Meet the Models: Ann Marotto’s Girls: Linda, Karin, Olivia, and Samantha

Linda Jones & Karin Castro and Olivia & Samantha Jones, Walking in memory of their mother and grandmother, respectfully, Ann Wilkie Marotto (1994.)

It was a crisp October weekend in 1986.  We were all home from college for a fun weekend at the Head of the Charles.  That was the first time we heard the words breast cancer in our home.  We would hear those words often as they would become part of our daily lives over the next 8 years.  I was 21, my sister 18 when our mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She passed away 8 years later on May 9, 1994.  The day after Mother’s Day.  

After her diagnosis she had a mastectomy and a course of intensive chemotherapy and radiation.  She went into remission and had her first reoccurrence after two years.  She was never cancer free again.  Life went on as usual during those eight years – there were many special times.  Family vacations, several mother daughter spa trips and the continuing of family traditions such as going to the Holiday Pops at the BSO and spending our summers with extended family in Gloucester.  Our mother also got to see both of her daughters get married.

Unfortunately our children never had the opportunity to meet their grandmother.  We have kept her memory alive by carrying on the traditions that defined her sense of family.