From the President

This past month has been a rough one for our family.  In mid-January, my mother-in-law passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at her home in Illinois.  After the initial wave of grief was the realization that, as trustees for her trust, my husband and I were now responsible for administering her estate.  We knew that day would come eventually--we just weren’t prepared for all that it entails.

Probably the most difficult part of the process has been dealing with her house and all her beautiful possessions that she was so fond of and displayed so proudly.  Among them were several sets of fine china, crystal and silver.  She travelled the world and accumulated many treasures, and she managed to find a spot for every gift that she ever received, no matter how quirky.

My primary job was to clean out her office and organize her records so we could see where things stood.  At first glance, it looked like a disaster, but once I located and gathered up all her important files, I read through them and realized that she was actually very organized and a good records manager—except for the fact that she kept all her tax returns and investment statements back to the early 80’s.  In every file, she left notes like breadcrumbs to help us find our way. 

Maybe she always did this, or did so more recently as she was getting older and the pandemic started closing in on her, but I truly felt like she left these notes for me.  I felt very close to her at that moment and appreciated the effort that she put in to make sure this transition was as easy as possible for us. 

We still have a long way to go on this journey, but I know that if we have any doubts or questions about anything, all we have to do is look in the files and we’ll probably find the answer.

Yvonne