Women Born In The 1920s

"We passed s and playing-grounds, and heard from open factory windows the magnified cheerfulness of ""."

"This was India, made for her amusement. Even the sun invited her to pour out her gladness, to soak up its immense generous heat and sweat out her salty thanks. Even the beggars pranced with hope."

"“Having come from the South, it didn’t bother me, because I wasn’t used to talking to white people, anyway,."

"There were all kinds of organizations in the Black community who were glad to accept me."

"“I don’t really understand how anybody cannot be an activist in this time and age. We all have an opportunity to be who we want to be, to encourage our children to be what they want to be, and to provide for them so they can become the people they want to be."

"I’d done a lot of reading, and I felt like the North was the place to be,” she said. “There was nothing to do in my hometown that used what I had. I had no freedom. Back in those days, every job you could get had to be with a Black company because no one else was hiring Black women."

"A little of this and a little of that and you mix it all together. But a whole lotta love has to go in it. If you don't have that, you have nothing at all."

"Keep busy. Put family first, but treat everybody like family. Save your money, but give the credit to a higher power."

"I keep a few mementos of Olivia around the house. One is a letter that she wrote when she was about 6 to a family friend. It says, “Dear Sheila, Thank you for the bubbly gum. I hope you are well. The bubbly was the most exciting present I ever had and I can blow bubbles... Love, Olivia. XXXXX.” That’s my Olivia. Isn’t she a honey of a girl?"

"Over the years, I did other things to help keep Olivia’s memory alive, donating a silver cup to her school each year to be awarded to the best high jumper, as she was in 1962. And when I played Olivia Walton in the TV film that preceded The Waltons television series, I insisted that my character’s name not be changed to “Mary” as the producers wanted."

"The phone rang. It was the doctor. He said, “Mrs. Dahl, ’s dead [from measles]. Did you hear me? I said Olivia is dead.” I said, yes, thank you. I couldn’t believe how cold he was. came back from the hospital and he cried. Oh, he cried. He had seen her dead. I unfortunately never did. My sisters-in-law talked me out of it. I wish they hadn’t. I stayed up that first night just looking out the window. Your love is dead, and the sun still comes up. It’s just so sad."

"Part of my healing came by having another child. No one could replace Olivia, but a new child would begin to heal the emptiness. In a letter to my doctor in California soon after Olivia’s death, I wrote, “I absolutely believe in a soul. And I long to let her go, to free her and hope she will be born again to me.” Two years later, was born and a year after that, ."

"I was the strong one at that point. I don’t want to brag about myself, but I’ve never seen anything like it. Roald really almost went crazy. I held everything together. I cooked all day and went on. Of course 34 years ago anything like a survivors’ support group was virtually unheard of. You had to pull yourself together. I loved Olivia, loved her, but my God, I had two more children. I had to go on."

"Over the years, I found that talking about Olivia helped immeasurably. Roald... couldn’t say a word. It was locked inside him."

"It is safer to write as a moralist, as an observer and evaluator outside personal involvement who may not know the precise nature of the subject matter, but who can indicate clearly what others ought and ought not do. Much of the writing in the literature of love was written by persons, who, perhaps never having suffered the insanity themselves but having observed its outward manifestations, are adamantly opposed to it. Limerent persons, sufferers of an unallowable condition, find themselves speechless save for ambiguity of "poetic" expression."

"I rejected "infatuation" because although the meanings of the terms overlap in some respect, they differ in meaning, and evoke different connotations."

"I coined the word "limerence." It was pronounceable and seemed to me and to two students to have a "fitting" sound. To be in the state of limerence is to feel what is usually termed "being in love.""

"Writers have been philosophizing, moralizing, and eulogizing on the subject of "erotic," "passionate," "romantic" love (i.e., limerence) since Plato (and surely long before that). And more often than not, what is said is enough to make a limerent dissolve into the walls in embarrassment. It can be dangerous to stick your neck out on the subject of love—dangerous to your self-esteem and to your reputation."

"To explain why the environment of our ancestors "selected" limerence, we might consider the behavior it induces. Some limerence-inspired actions are socially undesirable, even socially disruptive. Limerence intrudes, deflecting interest from affairs of business, of state, even of family. In the midst of battle, the soldier's despair over a letter of rejection from LO is not forgotten. A king gives up his crown. An artist's career languishes. But such visible disadvantages should not constitute the sole basis of judgment. The most consistent result of limerence is mating, not merely sexual interaction but also commitment, the establishment of a shared domicile in the form of a cozy nest built for enjoyment of ecstasy, for reproduction, and for the rearing of children."

"It is not love. It is the force of evolution expressed as the compulsion for the particular, this particular one above all others. Often, it is called love. . ."

"Reaction to limerence theory depends partly on acquaintance with the evidence for it and partly on personal experience. People who have not experienced limerence are baffled by descriptions of it and are often resistant to the evidence that it exists. To such outside observers, limerence seems pathological. The phenomenon that provides the subject of much romantic poetry and fiction has been called an addiction, an indication of low self-esteem, irrational, neurotic, erotomanic, and delusional. To those without direct experience it seems inconceivable that a sane person could attach so much importance to another individual."

"Many writers on love have complained about semantic difficulties. The dictionary lists two dozen different meanings of the word "love." And how does one distinguish between love and affection, liking, fondness, caring, concern, infatuation, attraction, or desire? The Group was overwhelmingly of the opinion that loving and liking refer to quite different feelings, but what, precisely, constitutes the difference? Acknowledgment of a distinction between love as a verb, as an action taken by the individual, and love as a state is awkward. Never having fallen in love is not at all a matter of not loving, if loving is defined as caring. Furthermore, this state of "being in love" included feelings that do not properly fit with love defined as concern. As de Rougement said, being in love is not the same. One is a state; the other, an act, and an act is chosen, not something merely endured."

"She stood up for civil liberties and women’s rights."

"She was often called the conscience of the Indiana State Senate."

"As a State Senator she tried to remain accessible to the citizens she represented."

"Throughout California, Bergeson was known as a trailblazer for female politicians, initiating a wave of women successfully running for public office."

"She had a great sense of fairness"

"She was a real defender of the women legislators. She was a beautiful person. She was kind and she was sensitive and yet, she was tough."

"An inspiration because she came from grass roots, which is where a lot of the women politicians from Orange County come from."

"She was a great supporter when we started the child-abuse laws."

"I supported them. I thought what they were doing was correct."

"We all started on local community councils and committees and worked our ways up, and so did Marian. That was her legacy for us – that you start there and achieve your goals all the way to Congress."

"Gertrude Berman was a tireless promoter and advocate for the highest quality education and treatment for her children."

"It was a lot of hard work, And I knew I wasn’t going to win. There are two kinds of power: money power and people power. If you don’t have the money, you can still win with people."

"She got her way more than she ever lost. She was a very tough woman. She could handle herself in any situation and you didn't have to mince words around her."

"You feel like you’ve left your footprint and that you’ve made some difference in people’s lives, being helpful. … Sometimes you just have to believe that you can do it."

"And she taught her family to persevere as she did."

"My mother lived a wonderful life. On hundred years is a lot to cover."

"Ms. Berman developed relationships with governors, county executives, school districts and political representatives as well as sports and entertainment notables."

"She would say you just have to deal with life on life's terms and do the best you can. That is all that anyone can expect."

"Carol Berman was a hardworking public official who continued to benefit the community long after her service as a senator."

"Things are going so backwards in Milwaukee, makes you wish for those days to come back."

"made a difference for the citizens of California that will not soon be forgotten."

"Her dedication to professional development led to many leadership roles in varied vocational and special-education related community services."

"I can only say, as former president of the Mill Brook Civic Association, Carol was always there for us with issues that affected us. You could always reach out to Carol and she was quick to respond. She was a very warm and caring person, and will be greatly missed."

"On a professional level, my law firm also enacts her philosophy. If we make Lucille proud, I know we’re doing our job and making good on our mission statement."

"There was never a problem that she didn’t think could be solved with people sitting down and talking it through. And that’s a throwback to a day that isn’t prevalent anymore."

"I was 24 years old when I became a widow, and I think about all those mothers who have husbands in Iraq. It will be harder for them than it was for me. I always said that if anything happened to my husband I would take the kids up North. I thought they would have a higher quality education."

"She could be forceful and passionate on issues of special concern to her."

"She was a mentor and dear friend who has left an enduring legacy."