My mother, Patricia Lewin, passed away July 10, just shy of her 89th birthday. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1940. At that time people knew her as Pat Stageman.

I have been sifting through some of her personal effects and found her senior yearbook. I found her photo and name throughout the book and was reminded of how proud she was to have been from Iowa, Council Bluffs, and Abe Lincoln High. Even though I was born and raised in Venice, CA, because of my mother I have always felt like there was a lot of Council Bluffs in me.

She was definitely a member in good standing of the Greatest Generation. She came to California at the war’s end and stayed the rest of her life. She traded her athletic and modeling life to become a housewife. She and my father had a wonderful life together that lasted sixty-two years, up to the time of my father’s passing. My sister and I cannot express how grateful we are for the childhood she gave us, how much we love her, and how much we miss her.

To any of her friends and classmates who are still among us, know that she loved her roots and all of you.

Sincerely,

Michael Lewin