Barbara is an attorney out of Chicago. She does a lot of traveling, to include of course Hawaii. She first met Shereen (as I recall) when she went to Macy's for a manicure/pedicure (Shereen was a beautician) - they struck up a conversation and soon became very good friends seeing each other often. Barbara eventually bought a condo in the same building we are in, which put her closer to us on a regular basis. Her friendship especially with Shereen grew to be very close, and of course that passed on to me as well. The friendship grew to the point where we considered ourselves family, so of course when Shereen passed, Barbara was devastated. Shereen and Barbara did a lot together - they both enjoyed going out and about - not only here in Hawaii, but also being with each other in Europe. When Shereen got sick and as her disease progressed, Barbara became ever more concerned - I clearly remember her first visit to Shereen here in our home - she was visibly shaken that Shereen was so ill. And prior to that, Barbara asked a physician friend of hers to help us in trying to determine just what might be wrong with Shereen - for the longest time the doctors were treating Shereen for an 'infection', which later took on the name of Arteritis. But the treatment was not working, so an MRI was run - that's when they found her spleen almost completely consumed by cancer. After Shereen's passing, Barbara stepped in to assist me in all the matters necessary to settle Shereen's affairs. She took care of all the paperwork for me; drove me here and there to process those papers; and generally took charge. Had she not done that, I would have been completely lost - I had absolutely no idea of what needed to be done - I needed help, and Barbara most generously did that. She in effect did it all pro bono (at no charge) - as I said, she was as close to us as family. I have to ask at this point, how many attorneys do any of us know who not only take care of all the paperwork, probate filings, etc., and on top of that, drive you around to the various places we needed to visit in order to accomplish the work. I think the answer is 'none'. But that's Barbara - generous and compassionate to a fault. As we neared the completion of all the paperwork, Barbara had to return home, but kept in touch to be sure I stayed on track. As a result of her assistance, nothing went amiss - Shereen's affairs were put in good order - I now had nothing to worry about. On a subsequent return visit, Barbara's next helpful acts included coming up and helping me with a stack of mail I hadn't opened in weeks - I was just so fatigued, distressed and disoriented, I wasn't keeping up with what grew into a huge stack of mail. Barbara sat down, sorted through it all, and then along with me, we opened everything, took care of what had to be attended to, and filed what needed to be put in order. That however didn't last long - no sooner did Barbara go back home again, I let the mail pile up. The only reason I even opened any of it was because of tax season - naturally I needed to put all tax papers together and file my return. The afternoon of 18Apr2012, the last of that work was finished and I barely got to the post office in time to timely mail our returns. In her last couple of visits to Hawaii, Barbara would see Shereen coming towards her carrying a flower lei - something Shereen always did for Barbara when meeting her at the airport - another example of how close Barbara was and is to Shereen. In addition to all that Barbara did for me, on the last day of her last visit, she brought me a companion dog - we believe it is part Dachshund, part terrier. It is often helpful for people who are grieving to have a pet to take care of. Unfortunately though in my case, I soon found I couldn't properly care for the dog which I name Lani. So two other friends in the building, Shannon and Lidia, graciously stepped in and took Lani to care for her. At the time, it was going to be temporary - just until I got myself to a point where I could both take care of myself and of course the dog. To this day, that hasn't happened - almost 14 months after Shereen's passing I still feel the tremendous grief, lethargy, and general inability to get myself out of the deep depression I'm still in - although I have to say I have more good days now then ever before. That notwithstanding, I still can't care for Lani, so it looks like Shannon and Lidia have Lani for good. As I look to the future, and as much as I love dogs, I don't see myself getting one - I have quite a way to go before I can care for a dog. But no matter, the fact that Barbara wanted me to have a companion dog is another example of her kind heart. Barbara is one of those rare and true friends who regularly stays in contact with me - always checking on me to see how I'm doing and what she might do to help if needed. I pretty much fly solo in a manner of speaking, so having even the few real friends I have is a blessing. Thank you Barbara for all that you've done for me and your continued caring, kindness and compassion. God bless you.