In January 1995 my mother, Elaine Benz, sent me a newspaper clipping of a letter she had written to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal. She was 70 at the time. I’m pretty sure it was the only one she ever wrote. It was a response to another letter writer who had opined that anyone foolish enough to work for the minimum wage must be “one big sucker.” My mom’s letter read, in its entirety:
“The letter written by James Arndt made my blood boil. He has no idea what the world is like when one is disabled or blind. To say ‘you are one big sucker’ if you are working for minimum wages shows Arndt doesn’t know what he is talking about. Elaine Benz, Waukesha.”
Elaine died on Dec. 29, before the sun came up. She was 98, just a few weeks shy of 99. My sister, Diane, and I were able to spend much of her last two days at her side. There is no need for condolence; my mom led a full and mostly happy life, and had a peaceful death. But I do want to share a few thoughts about her, because I think that many of us who end up as journalists and advocates and assorted other kinds of would-be do-gooders have had someone like her in our lives.
My mother, an only child, grew up in Milwaukee during the Great Depression and never finished high school; her father pulled her from school for a family road trip when she was 16, and she never went back. She was not political. She didn’t wear buttons or go to campaign...
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