Miss you Abilene

Dear Reflector-Chronicle

It has been almost a month now since I viewed Abilene in my rear-view mirror. Since it�s been that long, I am almost too embarrassed to write...but I feel that I must since you are all so very important to me...and didn�t have opportunity to tell each of you goodbye personally.

Abilene is a delightful town with much to offer and a great deal of potential. I have enjoyed my many years of residence there. I have gotten to know most of you through my 16 years employment with RHV Hardware and have become known to many of you as �The Paint Lady.�

I have enjoyed that role as it has brought me close to so many of you. I can tell you that if you know me at all, then you know me very well. It has been a pleasure to be a part of your lives. You may also have gotten to know me through the volunteer work that I have pursued for the last 38 or so years. I have served as a volunteer Bible teacher.

If I have called at your home personally, then hopefully you have come to know that this work offers to you a personal resource. If you need to find a scripture or an answer to a problem, myself or any of my associates can show you how to find the answer in your own copy of the Bible. I have enjoyed your personal expressions of encouragement and appreciation over the years.

So, when I found myself with an opportunity to move ahead and do more of this volunteer work, I chose to do so.

But something important that I want to say to each of you is in regard to Abilene�s history. I am not writing about the book version, but rather personal history I have seen played out in action. I am writing about the people whom I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with. The many conversations I have enjoyed with you. I have been privileged to come to know personally the parents and grandparents, the family stock, of some very solid citizens. These, and their predecessors are the ones who have carried the values that have built this town.

These solid values and qualities are the ones that have made Abilene, Kansas, a desirable destination. I am very impressed. I have enjoyed being among you. I will miss all of you. Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Margaret Miller

Matthews,

North Carolina