Rolling Pin

Edith Macefield lied about her age to join in the war effort in England. When her lie was discovered she stayed on to care for orphans until her mother’s illness brought her home again. Her only child, a son, died of meningitis at 13. Edith’s century-old Seattle farmhouse no longer had a farm when developers offered her a million to tear it down to build a mall. She turned them down. “Where would I go?” she explained, “My mother died here. This is where I want to die; in my own home.” So they built around her right up to the property line. She was still in her house when cancer took her less than two years later. Personally, I’d have taken the cash – spent it on a world cruise, or at least a comfortable nursing home. On the other hand, she was the inspiration for the Pixar movie Up, which she never lived to see. Nope. I’d still take the money.