I met the acclaimed travel guru Peter Greenberg years ago; back then he was the Travel Editor for the NBC’s “Today” show. He has gone on to have a very distinguished career with all the major networks and now, with his own “Peter Greenberg Worldwide” travel series—which brought him recently to Delray Beach.
But my initial lunch with Peter in Palm Beach many years ago was because his aunt, Martha Gail Kelly, asked him to; she was my seventh grade art teacher in London and had been mentor and role model ever since. She wanted us to meet one another, both part of Gail’s extended family, and over the years, Peter and I have bumped into each other now and then.
Skip ahead to 1:23:40 for Marie’s segment!
The first thing I asked him before we started the broadcast was how Aunt Gail was; he said she was “failing.” But I did not believe it for a second.
I’d seen her only a few years ago in London, in her late 80s, but as exuberant and positive and cheerful and dazzling as ever. Women like that do not fail, or dim or otherwise slip away. Not that woman, not the woman I had adored for decades.
We said hello to her over the air waves on the broadcast and made a short video, waving at her. Peter promised he would send it right away.
Two weeks later I received word she was gone. On her 92nd birthday.
So for me, this little silly radio segment was more than fun, more than a commentary about Delray. It was also an inadvertent good-bye to one woman and an era in my life that has ended.
I hope she is listening somewhere.
(Feature photo of Delray Beach courtesy of the Downtown Development Authority)
