Sisters of a different mother
From L – R: Sally DePerro, Margaret DePalma, Jacqueline Whitesides, Nita Talbot, Stacey Powells and Beti Kristof in Catalina circa 1999. (Photo courtesy Powells)
By Stacey Powells
I’ve been blessed and honored by many incredible women who have come into my life for one reason or another and every so often I’ve come across someone with whom there is an instant connection. Sally was one of those women.
When I first met Sally DePerro it was because my son and her daughter went to the same pre-school. When I last saw Sally, a few days before she transitioned, it was because she became more to me than just the mother of one of my kids’ friends. She was my sister-of-a-different-mother.
When I first moved to Mammoth back in 1992 it was Sally who told me where to volunteer and which restaurant in town served the best vegetarian stir-fry.
It was Sally who first introduced me to the man who would eventually become my husband almost 14 years later and it was Sally for whom I would bake apple pies in that special pie dish.
It was Sally whose love of reading books was equal to my own and it was Sally who was forever trying to get me to learn the art of quilting.
It was Sally who would call me at a moment’s notice and ask if I could leave work to take a walk with her into Shady Rest Park and it was me who responded, “Only if you treat me to lunch at the hospital cafeteria afterwards.”
We shared our love of Celtic music and because the tulip was our favorite flower we often gave each other tulips as a birthday gift … if we could find them.
Sometimes Sally went a few months without calling me and when I jokingly asked her to explain herself she said it was because she followed my weekly column so she already knew what was going on in my life. We shared adventures in Mexico, Big Sur, Santa Barbara and Catalina but the most excellent adventure is the one she is on right now.
We laughed together until our sides ached and we cried together until the tears ran dry. Sally is my “Sister of a Different Mother” and she will be missed.
–Stacey Powells
