Lady White, Tristan and Anneli and My Birthday

A final chapter in my three part blog about Lady Eirene White, my friend for more than 15 years and member of the House of Lords--who I met on a train from Edinburgh to London while I was a student at the University of London.

After returning to the US to begin my legal studies in Chicago, Lady White proved to be a vigorous correspondent.

We continued to correspond throughout my relocation to Chicago move and beyond my marriage.  She invited Dear Husbola and me to the Canterbury area and we celebrated my birthday at her brother's home.  Tristan and Anneli Jones welcomed us for a lunch and birthday cake in a small village nearby--and a nicer day was not to be had.  Anneli made a cake for my birthday--and braided a wild flower chain that went around my plate.  Just lovely. (I PROMISE to later this summer give a story about those two remarkable people and their incredible collections of the most unusual.  Let us suffice to say--we had tea in their back garden, Tristan wearing a coronet and an ermine cape while I drank a cup of tea and sat on an elephant's foot.)

On another occasion we stayed in Lady White's London flat while she was away and on another, she invited my mother to have a tour and lunch in the House of Lords' dining room.  We encouraged her to visit us on one of her frequent trips to the US.  Plans changed often--but we were able to host her at the Plaza Club in Chicago for a lunch between flights--although fog prevented the spectacular lake and skyline views.

Lady White died in 1999 and we learned too late to attend her remembrance service at Westminster Abbey.  I have often paged through her letters--that are sprinkled with news about Mrs. Thatcher and the Falklands and a visit from President Reagan. She may not have shared politics with the President, but she was enamored by him nonetheless.

My life has certainly been enriched by that chance meeting on a crowded train in 1981.