Signe Hammack was a spirited redhead who was my best friend from junior high at Pershing through high school at Bellaire and Westbury.  She was fun to be with and curious about life and all things in it.  Her intelligence shown particularly in math and science, but she did well in school in all subjects.  I have a little sister and she and I each saw Signe as a second sister as she went on vacations and weekend excursions with us everywhere.  We had wonderful times water skiing, horseback riding and just hanging out together talking.  She often went with me to my grandmother's house in the country where we always had a great time.  Our furthest trip was to Kenora, Ontario, Canada on the company airplane that my dad flew.  Mary Ruth Hammack named her daughter after the Swedish movie star Signe Hasso who starred in many 1940s American films.

Staying in touch off and on for many years after high school, we shared occasions of special importance.  She was a bridesmaid in my 1970 wedding and had a wedding shower for me at her mom's house in Willowbend, and we had daughters who were only a year apart.  Signe went to North Texas State University and then to Texas Tech, while I stayed in Houston for college.  Most of her family was from Kennedale, Texas where she moved in the 1970s.  Then, she moved to Arlington in 2011 where she was sadly murdered on Sunday, June 9, 2013.

The memories of our friendship will remain in my heart forever.

Tana McGraw Shaffer (Westbury class of 1963)