ANNA MONICA / L’Observateur / August 24, 1999

The world would be a better place if we had more people like Polly Remondet.

Instead, it has one less person like that.

“Miss Polly” died Aug. 16 from ovarian cancer. She had heroically fought it forat least seven years. It was a battle, and though Polly lost her life, she actuallyhas won. She won the admiration and respect of most who knew her and wontheir hearts also, especially those of the children she taught for over 20 years.

She has won because those who got to know her will not forget her.

Polly wouldn’t let the young people call her “Mrs. Remondet.” She was to all ofthem, “Miss Polly,” and she liked it that way. A school teacher, “Miss Polly” gotto know all her students, sometimes even their parents, grandparents and friends. During her sickness the kids would send her cards and notes. Teachingwas her pride and the kids were her joy. She saw many of them through firstcommunions while teaching at parochial schools and then into adulthood. It wasa sad realization when illness forced her to relinquish her career.

That was her professional life. She handled her private life very much the sameway, with love and dedication. She and Mike Sr. were married over 30 years andraised two offspring of their own, Mike Jr. and Brent. Having a family to carefor didn’t keep Polly from reaching out to heal the hurts of others and to be there when someone needed her. Her friends say she was usually the first one totake a hot meal to another or to attempt to help in some way, certainly with encouragement and prayer.

I grieve with my sister, Cookie, because she loved Polly so much and has lost her. They were friends in every sense of the word, always being there for oneanother, raising their boys together, Polly’s two and Cookie’s three. It wasPolly’s son, Brent, who tearfully said to Cookie, “Well, I guess I’ll have to be like your son now.” Cookie assured him he had always been like her own. And,checking, he said, “Do you know when my birthday is?” Certainly she did. Itseems that when you are already the mother of boys, it’s so easy to bring other boys into your home and heart. Polly would do that, too.Paul Spear, Polly’s cousin and close friend, says it is up to her and Cookie to give the showers now. “Fortunately” she said, “there shouldn’t be many more.”They would miss Polly doing it with them.

It seemed to Cookie that Polly always wanted to be doing something for someone else. I didn’t need to be told, though, because I had found that out on myown. Polly would call me, check on me and if I needed something she had, wouldsend it to me. You see, I too, had ovarian cancer. lt was last October (I am doingquite well; my story at another time). Polly was upbeat when she spoke toothers and never was there a moment that she exhibited any self-pity or gave any indication that she might be having a tough time, though I know now that she was. Actually, you couldn’t tell because this meticulous, lovely lady, nomatter how ill, never let the world view her as such and always had hair and makeup in perfect order.

To be there for her husband, sons and granddaughter was all that Polly would ask of life in her final days. She didn’t want to leave them. They didn’t want herto go. Cancer brings upon us great burdens, causes overwhelming losses andsorrow. A beloved friend of my own is also facing the end with ovarian cancer.But it cannot keep us from loving our God, family and friends. In fact, all of thatbecomes even more precious to us. No sickness could have taken away Polly’slove for what she held dear. ln fact, she probably found a very precious giftthrough all of her trials, pain and suffering. And the gift was that those sheloved so well, most truly and purely, loved her hack.

Sometimes, we tend to glorify a person in death. But that isn’t the case withPolly. Enough really cannot be said of a life so unselfish, so unspoiled and soloving. She was a light in the darkness. She was a winner.

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