Kathleen A. Gagne

Kathie Gagne died 4,756 days ago.

May 13th, 1996 @ 11:25 pm

Mom sent me this email shortly before (or after?) I graduated college. If I remember correctly, I had been feeling guilty about the fact that she had been paying much more than I thought for my car insurance for me while I was in school. (I think I had been sending her about $50/mo and one day she told me the actual bill was more like $150/mo.)

It’s funny that she again mentioned that silly R/C jeep toy of mine. I think I sold it for $5 at a flea market or yard sale because we needed money to pay the water bill that month or something along those lines. Yes, it had been one of my favorite toys, but I hadn’t played with it in years and was nowhere near as upset about selling it as she had been. It’s also funny that she wrote this entire email without once using the <shift> key!

College Graduation

May 3rd, 1996 @ 12:00 pm

Mom sent me so many cards and letters over the years. She’s been gone for a little more than a decade now and I am still finding ones in drawers and folders, tucked into books or hidden in between the pages of old instruction manuals for electronics I no longer own.

Today (October 12, 2022) I found a card she gave me when I graduated from the University of Florida on May 3, 1996. On the front is a cartoon cheetah wearing sunglasses and a cap and gown, holding a diploma and receiving a handshake from (presumably) a cartoon university president. Inside is printed, “Proud of ya, dude!” and the following note from her:

David,
Never be afraid of tomorrow —
Always treasure today –
Remember all the good in your life
And keep your eyes on the stars.

You are an incredible person and how you look, what your title is, or how much money you make matter little next to what is in your heart.

I love you, and I don’t know if I could possibly be any prouder —
Mom

hi from home

May 1st, 1996 @ 8:22 pm

Mom wrote this very emotional (to me) email a few days before I graduated college. I printed it and saved it in a box along with all the letters she sent me while I was at school. I remember she kept bugging me to tell her what I wanted for a graduation gift, and I just repeatedly told her to pay for the tassel on my cap and gown set, which was something like $5.00, because I knew she didn’t have any money.

nothing to fall back on

March 29th, 1996 @ 9:18 pm

I cannot recall exactly what happened that prompted this email. I think mom had either been told she was going to be laid off or get fired and she was (understandably) very upset about it. She must have called me and I tried to make her feel better about it.

I cannot imagine why for some time she wrote all her emails without using the <shift> key; it’s so uncharacteristic of her. She was a brilliantly-fast touch-typist and zealous about grammar and punctuation. This email came from her AOL account, which she had for many years.

This Job Thing

March 2nd, 1996 @ 12:18 pm

Mom wrote this email before she knew for certain she was going to be let go from her job. She had already started looking for a new place to work, though, hedging her bets. Up Close & Personal was the only “Redford movie” released in ’96, so that must have been the film she and Nana were going to see. I can’t recall why Nana was having surgery back then; she certainly survived it. Father Bob was the pastor of Nana’s church. And I have no idea if the Magic beat the Celtics winning streak that season, but I know my dad and Nana Rainy did indeed come to my college graduation.

Azalea Drive

June 26th, 1993 @ 12:56 pm

It’s hard to imagine now that my sister and I allowed mom to rock the Farrah Fawcett ‘do and sunglasses into the early 90s, but I guess we did. Here she is with my cousin (her nephew) Keith Albanese and my maternal grandmother (her mom), Anna Albanese, in the back yard of Nana’s house at 120 Azalea Drive.

The developer’s stamp on the back of the photo is JUNE 1993, so I’m guessing this was taken at my birthday party that year. It was quite a big deal when Keith came to visit; he lives in Rhode Island and I’ve only ever seen him a handful of times since we left there when I was six or seven.

News from the Front

April 9th, 1992 @ 12:00 pm

Mom wrote me this letter during my sophomore year of college. She sent news about one of my little sister’s softball games and a crazy dream she had. At the time I had a car that we named Puppy Shit, which still makes me laugh. I’ve redacted the names of some of the players on my sister’s high school softball team.
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One of the Good Guys

April 5th, 1992 @ 12:00 pm

Mom wrote me this letter during the Spring semester of my sophomore year of college. At the time I was nineteen and I guess she saw some sort of Hallmark or Lifetime movie and was traumatized that I was going to contract HIV because of all the drug-fueled, wild, college orgies I was attending. (Note: I was not attending any such parties.)

I really wish I’d had more time as a parent myself before she died. It is impossible to even remotely relate to your parents until you have your own kids.

Worries

February 26th, 1992 @ 12:00 pm

This is one of the very few letters I have from mom in which she mentions Reebok, our German Shepherd.
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A Quick Visit

February 23rd, 1992 @ 12:00 pm

Here’s a letter mom wrote me during my sophomore year of college …
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