Laurel’s Recollections of her Aunt Molly

My first memories of Molly were from family visits to the cottage she and Bill Hewston had rented outside Ventura, California. It was on the ocean beach, and the idea of walking out the back door of the cottage onto a sunny sandy beach in southern California made a big impression on me.

Molly was my father’s only sister. She was the youngest of the six children. He said that I was like her, and I knew it was a tender comparison.

At some point Molly and Bill bought the cottage. Molly remained after Bill’s death in 1981 until one year a storm forced the evacuation of everyone living along the beach and she decided she needed to move into town.

After I moved to Dallas in 1987, I attended a yearly gathering of Unitarian Universalist ministers at La Casa de Maria in Montecito, California near Santa Barbara. I used the opportunity each year to visit her. (See photos below of two of those visits.)

We created a very dear relationship in those visits. She talked about her early years, including her first marriage to an alcoholic, which ended when he had been drinking and crashed their car. Her second marriage to Bill Hewston was a happy one. They enjoyed their social life with friends in Ventura and their home on the beach.

She did wish she had children. My impression was that they were busy with work, friends and their activities together, and the time for children simply passed by them.

In 1994 my Mother and I drove from Modesto with my dog Toto, to visit Molly. By then she had moved to the Ventura Townhouse Retirement Home in Ventura. It was a happy visit, especially with Toto.

In 2000, I flew from Dallas and met my mother and brother in Ventura to go to Molly’s funeral together. Someone had sent a lovely small pink flowering tree which was so appropriate for her. After the service we planted it in her memory at the ranch in Modesto.