Alva Review-Courier -

bMy uncle Arley brought home a foreigner as his wife. She was born in the U.S. but she seemed like a foreigner to me and my siblings. Aunt Eileen had dark brown eyes, a slightly louder voice than we were used to and a proud Roman nose. Growing up in the Boston area in an Italian family, she dropped the “r” on words like “door” and “car.”

Eileen was accompanied by a beautiful but bad-tempered cocker spaniel. The creature would only submit to petting if she was holding him. However, we were entertained by his appetite for raw carrots.

In later years, my aunt and uncle moved to Missouri, and we s...