Did you ever wonder what it would be like to work with your mother and learn about her life and in doing so discover a completely different person? My mother, Mollie Weinstein Schaffer, passed away on April 8, 2012. She lived a remarkable life, and I am happy that we worked for two years on a book chronicling her life from 1943 to 1945 when she was a WAC (Women’s Army Corps) stationed in Europe. Seeing the smile on my mother’s face when she held her book, Mollie’s War, in her hand was priceless. Peppered throughout her letters was the fact that she wanted to write a book … and it happened — only 65 years later!
Once my mother married and had a family, the idea of a book about her war experiences was forgotten. Between raising three children with my dad and working full time, she never had time. However, in October 2007, my mother received a letter from the daughter of Mary Grace Loddo Kirby, her last surviving WAC buddy, telling her that Mary had passed away. This event gave me the impetus to undertake this project while my mother was still alive. I knew I was on borrowed time; after all my mother was 91 years old. My job contract ended in December 2007, so I had the time.
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