I met Sandi, known by her family and friends as "Cookie", in my Junior year at Schurz. We rode together on the Addison bus to and from school from different out-lying neighborhoods of Chicago. It was often a long and grueling ride especially in winter. I was shy, and quiet with few friends. She was out-going, friendly, had a wonderful sense of humor and made you feel good to be around her. She brought me into her circle of friends and filled my remaining years at Schurz with fun, laughter, and excitement. She had an exceptional talent and gift in Art. In fact her art work was chosen and appears in our 1960 year book, page four, depicting and honoring the era of 1920-1930. Our friendship continued after graduation as we pursued our separate endeavors and careers, marriage, and children. But as the years went by and our lives became more complicated, we drifted apart. The past six years went by with no contact...until August of 2009 when I started to think about our 50th class reunion and I got the "bug" in me to find my friends of the past. It took me one month to locate my friend Sandi(Cookie). I sadly discovered she was gravely ill and promised I would visit her once a month which I did until she died a week before this Thanksgiving. I wished I had done more...but I am thankful that I was able to have visited and talked with her before she left. We caught up on our lives, reminisced, laughed, and enjoyed each other's company again...Love you, Cookie, I will miss you. Sandi has left her legacy with her son, his wife, her brother, sister and all those family and friends that love her. Always, Jill Words to remember: Around the corner I have a friend, In this great city that has no end. Yet the days go by and weeks rush on, And before I know it, a year is gone. And I never see my old friend’s face, For life is a swift and terrible race, She knows I love her just as well, As in the days when I rang her bell. And she rang mine but we were younger then, And now we are busy, tired women. Tired of playing a foolish game, Tired of trying to make a name.. 'Tomorrow' I say! 'I will call on her Just to show that I'm thinking of her.' But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes, And distance between us grows and grows. Around the corner, yet miles away, 'Here's a telegram madam,' your friend died today.' And that's what we get and deserve in the end. Around the corner, a vanished friend.
Jill Zderadicka (Pruyn)
I met Sandi, known by her family and friends as "Cookie", in my Junior year at Schurz. We rode together on the Addison bus to and from school from different out-lying neighborhoods of Chicago. It was often a long and grueling ride especially in winter. I was shy, and quiet with few friends. She was out-going, friendly, had a wonderful sense of humor and made you feel good to be around her. She brought me into her circle of friends and filled my remaining years at Schurz with fun, laughter, and excitement. She had an exceptional talent and gift in Art. In fact her art work was chosen and appears in our 1960 year book, page four, depicting and honoring the era of 1920-1930. Our friendship continued after graduation as we pursued our separate endeavors and careers, marriage, and children. But as the years went by and our lives became more complicated, we drifted apart. The past six years went by with no contact...until August of 2009 when I started to think about our 50th class reunion and I got the "bug" in me to find my friends of the past. It took me one month to locate my friend Sandi(Cookie). I sadly discovered she was gravely ill and promised I would visit her once a month which I did until she died a week before this Thanksgiving. I wished I had done more...but I am thankful that I was able to have visited and talked with her before she left. We caught up on our lives, reminisced, laughed, and enjoyed each other's company again...Love you, Cookie, I will miss you.Sandi has left her legacy with her son, his wife, her brother, sister and all those family and friends that love her. Always, Jill
Words to remember:
Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great
city that has no end.
Yet the days go
by and weeks rush on,
And before I
know it, a year is gone.
And I never see
my old friend’s face,
For life is a
swift and terrible race,
She knows
I love her just as well,
As in the days
when I rang her bell.
And she rang
mine but we were younger then,
And now we are
busy, tired women.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying
to make a name..
'Tomorrow' I
say! 'I will call on her
Just to show
that I'm thinking of her.'
But tomorrow
comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance
between us grows and grows.
Around the corner,
yet miles away,
'Here's a telegram madam,' your friend died today.'
And that's what
we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.