In Loving Memory

Ethel “Dutch” Brink

Today I heard the sad news from my high school buddy Dan Brink that his mother, Ethel Brink had passed away. Her nickname was “Dutch” and she lived a long life of 94 years.

Dutch was a very special person to me-­?-­?like a surrogate mother. The entire Brink family was so kind to me. My own mother Helen had a stroke when I was 6 years old and was in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Then when I was 15 my father Pete passed away. Bob Brink, Dutch’s husband, had the difficult task of telling me that my dad had died. I lived with my grandparents until finishing high school.

Bob was Assistant Manager at the Oil City A & P Grocery Store. Later that summer, when I turned 16, he gave me a job as a bag and stock boy. It was a HUGE thing for me...