Sunrise: April 27, 1962
Evelyn Faith Summers, a beautiful being entered this world. I have not yet to enter my mother’s womb. Then seven years and almost two months later, my own sunrise occurred on June 14, 1969. It was not until about 1993 our paths would cross.
Ev, remember your hooptie you called Betsy? LOL “She” is what brought us together. I am so thankful for that hooptie! Betsy was on one of her down modes, and I, being the outgoing person I am, offered you a ride home from work. Some time down the road, you told me you had no clue what I was up to that day. You hoped I was not looking for a friend in you because you weren’t looking for a friend at the moment. I on the other hand, was not up to anything except being the outgoing person I am.
Something happened over that time as we traveled to and from work together. We grew and blossomed into something beautiful. It turned out to be a 25 years plus of a wonderful friendship! I could trust you with my life!! That is soooo hard to come by these days: to find someone you know you can trust with anything and everything.
You were such a good listener. We helped each other through so many hard times; we had loads of laughs along the way. Remember the one day before work when we decided to meet up at a particular store in town? Parking downtown was already scarce on a good day; being that it just snowed, piles of that glorious white stuff were all around making parking on the street impossible, so we decided to both park in the lot at the bus terminal.
We quickly went into the store to look around, then we headed back to our cars to leave for work. As you pulled off, I followed behind you. I noticed your license plate was missing. I honked my horn to get your attention. You rolled down your window and stuck out your head to see what I wanted. I yelled out to you, “Ev, your license plate is not on your car.” You said, “What??!!!?” You got out to look, then we went to the back of my car to check my plate and lo and behold mine was missing too.
We knew the man working at the bus station had to have taken our plates since technically we should not have parked there anyway. We went inside to confront him. Although he would not admit it, his nasty attitude toward us said it all, not to mention the irony of both our plates being MIA.
Remember how we had to call in to work telling them we were going to be late so we could go to City Hall to get the situation taken care of. LOL It was a little frustrating, but we laughed our heads off at the same time. We got to work and told all of our co-workers what happened. It was the funniest thing. We had everyone in stitches with the story. What an eventful day!
Sometimes you would call me just to find out how I made a particular dish or to get a recipe from me. You would say, “Tray, I don’t have time to talk, I just want to know how you make… or can you give me the recipe for…” You knew if you did not tell me prior that there would be no time for talking, we would be on the phone for at least an hour. Normally, once we got on the phone we would spend hours venting to one another, crying, joking and laughing.
Remember on our lunch break at work we would lock ourselves in the big bathroom and do our Bible study?
How about when we got our vacation days from work? We would get ours around the same time. I was known for using my vacation days up quickly! I would always come up with a spontaneous adventure and get you to come along. Remember how you would say to me, “Tray, you are not going to make me use up all my days this year!” And we would laugh. I knew there was some seriousness when you said it, but I also knew I could always count on you to eat up at least few days for me.
I would call you up and say, “Ev, let’s take a vacation day and go to South Street in Philadelphia with the kids.” You would breakdown and say, “Okay, Tray.” And off we would go and have a great time! I even got you to go out clubbing with me several times. We had sooo much fun!
You and I have exchanged so many gifts over the years for our birthdays and other occasions. Going to family events together; our annual Christmas party at Viv’s apartment where we would eat, talk, laugh, and exchange presents with Dot, Viv, Nancy and Kathy.
How about the places we traveled to go to church and conferences?! We were all over: New York; Philadelphia, PA; Pottstown, PA; Baltimore, MD; Washington, D.C.
You stood for my daughter when I got her dedicated at church. I was your Matron of Honor at your wedding.
We were inseparable, then life changed. We did not get to hangout as much as we once did, but we still made sure to meet up occasionally, invite each other to functions and talk on the phone.
Three years ago before I relocated to North Carolina we met up for dinner. That was the last time I saw you. Since I moved, we’ve sent texts and talked, but I did not get to spend any time with you in the last three years.
I am sad for the times I went back home to visit my adult children and I did not take the time to plan something with you; even if it would have been for 30 minutes. Between the long drive and trying to spend as much time with my children, there never seemed to be enough time for much else. The weekend always flew by so quickly. It never meant that I did not value our friendship or cherish our memories over two and a half decades. I now pray everyday that you had enough of security in our friendship to know how I felt regardless of my lack of visitations. I think you did, just by our periodical talks and texts. When we would finally catch up, it was as if several months of gap, sometimes more, never existed.
Sunset: June 24, 2019
I stopped at a grocery store close to my home. I picked up a few items. My mom was sending me messages on the messenger app that I read while I was shopping. As I was leaving the store walking to my car, I received a messenger notification. I figured it was my mom again continuing our topic of conversation. I waited until I got to my car and sat down to open the message. Never in a million years did I think I would read what I was about to read next.
All I remembered were certain words that stuck out to me: State troopers, Evelyn Nazario, deceased, car crash. I felt my eyes widen in disbelief. Everything was blurred then turned black. I started screaming NOOOOOO, NOOOOO as I cried sitting in my car. It felt as if I was having a nightmare. The first person I called was your son, David. Him and I cried together. I just remember him trying to calm me down. As he was crying, he tried to pull it together and said to me, “It’s okay, Tracy.” When he and I both knew it wasn’t and it still is not.
It is over a month now and I am still in shock!! I think about you EVERY SINGLE day!! It is so hard to believe, I will never be able to call you, text you or see you ever again. This tragic incident took all that away from me and everyone else who loved you dearly.
I am sure you know I flew back home and attended all your services. Wow, is all I can say! You had a service at church like none I have ever seen before. It was phenomenal, just like you! The church was packed like a Sunday morning. I would say there had to be about four hundred people in attendance, not including those that viewed you and did not stay for the service. Nick really let loose at the end. He felt led to say something, ended up preaching, and everyone was blown away! So many made comments about it afterwards.
The viewing at the funeral home the next day was packed as well. Your procession to the burial looked like it stretched several blocks. There had to be about 60 cars heading to the cemetery. I am not sure why I am telling you this because I know you were looking down, dancing around in amazement how your life was celebrated. It was an awesome celebration!
It took me awhile to get this blog posted. Getting this post out has been a challenge as I had to look through pictures and type my memories and experience. I still cannot believe you are gone. It is so hard to fathom. It is not like you are the first person I lost that was close to me. My grandparents were my everything and I lost them years ago. I think the difference here is with them there were events leading to the thought that death may be near. It was still extremely hard though. Death is never easy. With you, this tragedy hit me hard from behind. Who would have seen this coming!!!???? All I know is, I love you dearly and I miss you terribly. I love you!
Below are some recent text messages I chose to share. They are precious to me.
Links to the tragic story:
https://local21news.com/news/local/traffic-alert-multiple-car-crash-on-route-222-sb
https://www.wfmz.com/news/pennsylvania/state-police-report-1-killed-in-route-222-wreck/1088887379
