A Woman of Substance
Delores Smith was my landlord's mother, and she lived above me in the Victorian house I rented in Montclair, NJ, while working in Manhattan. I was to be her and her son's Thornell's first non-family tenant in the house. Built after the turn of the 20th century, the home was like many in Montclair and had a wrap around porch, where we all sat many a sunny day chatting about our lives. We became very close over a two-year period, and it was a tear-filled day of goodbyes when I left in October of last year. I will forever remember their kindness and generosity. Delores, her brother Bobby and her brother Carl grew up in the house with their two hard-working parents. They had moved to Montclair from Virginia when her father wanted out of the coal mining industry. He later died of black lung disease. Bobby and Delores lived there for many years after both parents died. Thornell bought the property and remodeled and updated the interior to become a multi-family dwelling right ...