The theme for Week 15 is "Solitude." Is there someone in your family tree who lived by themselves or would seek out time to be alone? Celebrate them this week by writing part of their story. 

While Elsie Marco wasn’t a hermit, but it seems to me she enjoyed her solitude. Elsie was born in 1908 to William and Anna Marco in New York City, shortly after they arrived from the old country. Elsie was baptized in New York City as Anastasia, never married and lived a long life until 2004. Elsie enjoyed traveling and learning. She traveled over seas many times and earned a masters degree from Cornell University. In 1992 she was living at an assisted living facility when she was interviewed for the Hartford Courant: “I thought I would always be competent enough to live alone, something happened to my memory.” “I can live with my thoughts” “They sort of leave you to yourself, the TV is my companion” While she enjoyed time with her extended family I have to believe that a woman moving all the way across country in the 1940s enjoyed being separated as well.