I first met Penny when I was 12 years old.  Penny was new to the neighborhood and we met walking home from school one day.  She said everyone calls her Penny but her full name is Penelope Alma Alden Elstrom.  Penny did not look like or act like she should have such a formal name.  I was very amused by her name and she was pleased that she was amusing me. Penny’s family was different than most of the families in the neighborhood.  Most of our mothers stayed home and were house wives.  Penny’s mom had a profession.  She designed children’s clothing.  Penny’s father was a consultant engineer, which we had no idea what that was.  We only knew that he traveled and was rarely home.  Her parents were focused more on their careers and less focused on being attentive parents.  Although Penny lacked attention from her parents, any material thing she needed or wanted was available to her.  I was always envious that she had her own Dayton’s charge card.  My father, on the other hand, who had total control of all the money, let us know that if you want something beyond the basic necessities we would need to earn the money ourselves.   Penny’s house became the hang out for the six of us neighborhood girls who hung out together.  It was the perfect place.  We had no parental interference at Penny’s and we could pretty much do what we wanted.  We didn’t really do anything too bad.  We smoked cigarettes, made prank telephone calls and invited the neighborhood boys over, one of which was my brother Mike.  One night, however, we stole Penny’s father’s car and drove recklessly around the neighborhood.  Of course, none of us were even old enough to have our driver’s license.   Over time, Penny remained in Minneapolis and I moved to Spokane.  For the next 40 years we maintained our relationship. Whenever I would call Penny, I would always start out by saying, “Is this Penlope Alma Alden Elstrom.   Most of the time we found ourselves talking  about all the crazy things we did in the past, both of us clinging to those days when nothing was too serious and having fun was our top priority.  I really miss Penny.   Written by Sonya Rose Class of 1963 Sister of Mike Rose Class of 1961