From: Danny Johnson

Today, Sunday, August 16th,  a  very special and intense flower of Amaryllis belladonna opened for the first time in our garden.  It was one of Elmer's  "treasured" naked ladies that he gave us two years ago.

(Years and years ago those flowers somehow began finding their way across busy Marin Avenue).

Over our many years as neighbors, we shared an enormous amount of gardening triumphs and frustrations, bugs, pests, diseases, catalogues, flowers, fruit and vegetables.

And, of course, the deer.

We also treasure the food we had the great good fortune to share with Pam and Elmer over those many years.

We shared many memorable evenings together with great food and wine, and wonderful story telling from Elmer.

For years I always looked forward to my annual tutorial on the complicated and intricate rituals and techniques of creating the perfect Thanksgiving Dinner that Pam and Elmer would so generously share.  My own annual Refresher Course!

Our lives became interwoven through the years in a way that only individuals blessed with the gift of great neighbors get to experience: we will always treasure that gift.

Our lives were expanded greatly by Elmer's generosity, his kindness, and his love.

We are lonesome already for his reassuring warmth.