1972: Dear Carder, Milligan, Heath, Eyler and Gamba Families, How to be a Real Neighbor

Dear Columbine Street Neighborhood Families,

I have no idea how many times I rang your respective doorbells.  

Occasionally, I rang to be helpful.  More often I sprung into your day looking for something to do or eat.  Thankfully, I have no memory of reaching out in a crisis.  My Mom wished I hadn’t stopped by to announce she had “been spayed” after some kind of abdominal surgery.  (I suspect she explained her hospital stay by using our family dog as reference).

I was the “runt” of the neighborhood under your involuntary care. Your kids rode me around on the handle bars of their bikes, simplified the game so I could jump in or slowed down the chaos to be sure I could keep up.  When the Gamba Family came along in about 1977 you trusted me with your next generation which blows my mind to this day.  

As for the grown-ups you helped start each other’s cars, water the plants, find the dog or whatever the day demanded.  I watched you participate in the civic pride, processes and problems of our town.  Basically, you chose to be neighbors, real neighbors who became lifelong friends.  

In these times of tragic isolation and hesitation to be neighborly, thank you for the example you set. I’m so grateful to now have had the same for my family thousands of miles away.

Your neighbor, 

Ann Simonds

aka Annie Hoagland

aka Annie Hoagland