Mrs. Meeks’ daughter, April, and I were good friends in 4th grade. I have wonderful warm memories of Mrs. Meeks. I’ve never forgotten her and the way she always made me feel included and loved. She exuded love. One fond memory happened on Valentine’s Day when the family had gathered and I was over. She gave her son some money to run to the store to buy something. When the family sat down at the dinner table to celebrate and exchange gifts, to my great surprise, I was given a gift too! It was a large size Hershey’s chocolate kiss. I’ve never forgotten. I wanted to see her again to tell her how much she made that little immigrant girl feel like she belonged. Thank you Mrs Meeks if you can hear me from Heaven. I was so lucky to have known you, even if briefly. All my love, Kalyani (“Mini”) Naik