I have spent a substantial amount of time with Marcella over the past few months. When I first went in to visit her at her home, we spent the better part of two hours shooting the breeze about anything and everything.

Essentially, this woman is the grandmother I always wish I had.

Talking about the Great Depression was more of a subplot every time I visited her. In short, Marcella loves to talk. Just the prospect of meeting someone or talking to a new face thrills her, as was demonstrated by her "tickled" reaction when I invited her to the release party (for anyone who wishes to meet her, she'll be in fine form on Wednesday, June 3rd at the EMU amphitheater on University of Oregon's campus). Writing a story about her was easy when I consider how easy it is to talk to her; at the same time, writing a story about her was impossible when I consider the amount of information I had to leave out.

Hopefully this and the following blog posts will help to remedy that.

I can personally attest to the failure of early relationships, as I'm sure many of you experienced when growing out of adolescence.

Marcella met the man she'd ultimately marry in high school. From what I remember, she was 16 when she met him (though that may not be absolutely accurate, it's pretty close). From what I remember, they married when she was 18. He was working for the Civilian Conservation Corps in California at the time. She describes him as a strapping man. She describes him as a brilliant man, as he would eventually work for the commission that developed the atomic bomb in World War II.

She went with him all over the world. They were happily married until he died. She still has a cane he bought in Indochina that conveniently and deceptively doubles as a long rapier.

Marcella's dedication to her husband is more astounding when I consider that a woman of her caliber had men eating out of her hand. Not just any man - we're talking the son of one of the biggest German automakers in the world.