Loretta was small, scrappy, competitive, and good humored.  Like most of her family, she was blunt and, if you will pardon a bit of euphemism, plain spoken.  In school Cherry Campbell counted herself among Lee’s many friends, and gladly so.  “I could count on her to lift me up when I was down.” Joan Imperiali, also a cheerleader, says, “I thought she was a good athlete. She was little bit of a tom boy and friendly.”  Ted Rydzewski who dated her at times remembers, “She was a nice person.  We did weird things down at the Youth Center.  We’d go down to Tilleys Beach and used to go skinny dipping. “ 

After graduation Lee began to date Ralph Palacios, somewhat older than us, with an air of worldly knowledge and something of a relaxed Desi Arnez Latin charm.  Many of us knew him from long evenings loitering on the wooden stairs to Tilley’s beach or nights at the Knotty Pine.  Ralph had been born in Venezuela but left with his grandmother after his father, part of the presidential guard, was killed in a coup when Romulo Gallegos, the novelist-president was overthrown in 1949.  Ralph became a US citizen and served in the Korean War.  Lee’s parents were not happy when she married Ralph and never accepted him or allowed him into their house.  In their first years of marriage Lee and Ralph found themselves in financial trouble, often staying with friends.  While still on Long Island, their first son, Michael, was born in ’65 and Richard (Rick) in ’67.   They had moved to West Palm Beach, Florida and Ralph was managing a restaurant when Lee gave birth to Krissy in ’69.  The children, unfortunately had little time to know their father and live a normal family life. 

Mike remembers that their father used to take them golfing or to the beach because he worked evenings, and Lee was probably working a regular day shift.  Mike says, “He didn’t want us to play football or baseball. He wanted us to be individuals and play tennis or golf or swim.”

Ralph would speak and sing in Spanish to the kids and wanted them to speak Spanish. Mike says Lee learned some Spanish, but mainly “all the wrong words.”  Lee kept the kids focused on academics.  “She was very strict with us about grades,” Mike says, “and that was something she wasn’t going to back off on.  One of her dreams was to have all three of her kids graduate.”

On December 7, 1972 Lee was doing a normal day’s work in an office when she got a call that Ralph had dropped dead suddenly while crossing a street.  He had been felled by an unsuspected brain aneurism.  His death struck Lee hard.  Instantly fate had turned her into a mother with little education and three pre-teen children.  She went back to work.  She also remarried quickly and perhaps hastily and would soon be battling alcohol as well as grief.  Her son Mike says his father’s death brought unimaginable changes to his mother’s once sunny temperament.  “When I was growing up she didn’t have time to be happy.”  She seemed to age quickly.  Lee was always a fighter, however, and as faithful to her children as she had been to her friends when she was our classmate.  “She was extremely stubborn,”  Mike says. She did not give up.  She worked as a receptionist, then became office manager of a real estate firm and eventually earned her sales license. 

In 1985 she separated from both her second husband and alcohol.  That year she drove up to Georgia for Mike’s graduation from Army Ranger school, a beaming and proud mother whose son was as tough as she was.  Mike feels he owes a lot of his own character to Lee.  “She could adapt to any situation or any environment and survive.  Whenever things were going down in the army I knew I could call her, and she would pick me up.”

Her toughness would soon face its final challenge.  In 1988 she learned she had breast cancer.  She didn’t tell the kids but came to visit Mike for several months where he was stationed in Washington state, then spent another six months with Krissy in California.  She said she just wanted to reconnect with her family.  Mike found out a couple of years later that she was in chemotherapy and taking radiation treatments.  Nevertheless, she maintained her sense of humor and began a large hat collection to cover her missing hair.  One of the hats was signed by the Miami Dolphins.  Her other hobby was bluegrass music.  In ’94 the year Mike’s son was born his sister called and said Lee was slipping fast.  Krissy brought her three children and Mike brought his son so she would be with family again.  Lee died on April 13, 1994. 

All three of her children found success, although Mike says, “All three of us did it the hard way.”  Mike went to Army after high school.  His sister Krissy became an Army medic, then a nurse.  Their younger brother Rick “was the free spirit, the surfer, got his dive master’s license and taught scuba.”  Rick too then joined the Army and became a medic and served Afghanistan and Iraq.  Krissy and Mike finished their undergraduate degrees and Rick is studying at NC State University.  Krissy, says Mike, “is the patron saint of all of us.”  Besides being a nurse, she is the mother of five children. 

“Wherever she is,” Mike says, “I think she’s looking down on us and smiling.”

Lee’s son, who would welcome any memories of his parents that our classmates might have, is

Michael Palacios

7861 Compass Drive

Orlando, FL 32810

mplegal@hotmail.com