Anna Van Hook Fisher

The Dutch custom is to name the first daughter after her paternal grandmother. Anna was, subsequently, named after her grandmother, Anna Cook Van Hook. Anna was affectionately known as "Auntie", not only to her five nieces, but also to their friends and her neighbors. She was everyone's "Auntie".

It is a strange phenomenon that while she was not much older than the parents of her nieces (Aunt Nella and Uncle Vinnie, Mom and Dad), she was a mother figure to her siblings. In the same way Auntie was more like a grandmother to us than an aunt. She never fully realized motherhood. She bore and delivered a child from her first marriage who weighed approximately 16 pounds. Unfortunately, he died at birth. I feel that that had an effect on why she was so possessive of our lives. The family always came first, everyone else was secondary. She felt that no one was good enough for her nieces. We were treated like princesses in a tower, and we looked it, too! She bought us our clothes, gold jewelry, gave us allowances (in those days it was 10 cents!), and generous gifts of dolls, games and books. Auntie, however, was often critical of what we wore, what we did, and who we dated! Yet to others, she complimented us glowingly for the same subjects she had criticized us for. She wanted to keep us humble.

Auntie loved her nieces more than life. Unfortunately, she could not tell us that. I wished she had because we misunderstood her love.

I mirror Auntie in so many ways, especially in looks now that I am grey. I've tried to emulate my relationship to my nieces and nephews the way Auntie was to her nieces. She was a wonderful role model. I've learned from her mistakes, too. Hopefully, by my words and actions, my nieces and nephews will know and not misunderstand the extent of my love.

One of Auntie's dreams was to go to Holland with me on vacation after she retired. It never came to be. She died when she was ready to retire. She was proud of her Dutch heritage, and she made me proud of it, too! I have made many trips to Europe since her death, but the first country I visited was Holland. It was the fulfillment of her dream. My dining room walls' reflections of windmills and Dutch scenes keep me tied to that dream.

In trying to describe Auntie to her great-nieces and great-nephews that had never met her, I thought the essay on the next pages would capture the effect her life had had on the family. 

She has become our legend…..