ABOUT LEE
AKA
LYNORA SAUNDERS

PHIL-LEE  GOLDMAN, MY MOM, IS FROM PHILADELPHIA, THEREFORE THE NIC NAME “PHIL-LEE.”
THE BEST GIFT I EVER GOT FROM MY MOM IS A LETTER I STILL HAVE, SAYING WE HAVE NOW BECOME “FRIENDS” AS WELL AS ONLY BEING MOTHER AND DAUGHTER.
THAT REMAINED TRUE EVEN UP TO THIS MOMENT WHERE I AM WRITING THIS NOTE.

BOTH OF MY FOLKS WERE THE BEST FRIENDS I EVER HAD, PROBABLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEY WERE BEST FRIENDS TO EACH OTHER… NOW THE THIRD LEG OF THE TRIPOD CAME INTO THEIR LIVES, ME. THREE LEGS ARE STRONGER AND MORE BALANCED THAN TWO.

I STILL THANK MY FOLKS FOR GIVING ME SUCH A GREAT, HUMOROUS, CREATIVE, MUSICAL, WARM, CARING LOVING LIFE STYLE, WITH MANY CHARACTERS AND STORIES TO REMEMBER.

I WILL ALWAYS MISS THEIR LAUGH, THEIR LOVE, THEIR TOUCH.

MY MOM WAS A PIANIST. SHE HAD THE TOUCH. HER PIANO PRACTICE, BACK IN PHILLY, HAD FIFTY STUDENTS. SHE NOT ONLY PLAYED, BUT COULD TEACH, A RARE COMBINATION.

SHE ALSO LOVED DANCE, MOVEMENT, AND HEALTH, SO SHE COMBINED THEM. MOMMA LEE WENT TO UCLA IN LOS ANGELES, GETTING HER MASTERS DEGREE IN DANCE MOVEMENT AND NUTRTION.

MY DAD TOLD ME THAT THE FIRST PICNIC THEY WENT ON CONSISTED OF HARD BOILED EGGS, CARROTS AND FRUIT. BUT MOMS  MOTHER, MY GRANDMA KATIE CAME TO THE RESCUE WITH BLINTZES, CHICKEN SOUPS AND LOTS OF REALLY GREAT AND TASTY DESSERTS… YOU COULD SEE HOW GOOD THEY WERE AS THE GREASE DRIPPED THROUGH THE BAG AS MY GRANDMA HANDED THEM TO MY FOLKS AS THEY LEFT ON THE TRAIN GOING TO NEW YORK TO SEE DADS FAMILY.

SHE WAS AN EARLY ADVOCATE OF FOOD AS MEDICINE, AS WELL AS A NATURAL HEALER. MOM MUST HAVE KNOWN WHAT SHE WAS DOING BECAUSE NONE OF US GOT COLDS, HEART DISEASE, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. OR ANYTHING THAT SO MANY OTHERS GOT.

DOGS AND FRIENDS ALIKE WOULD WALK UP TO MAMA LEE BECAUSE SHE REALLY DID HAVE HEALING HANDS. I SURE COULD USE HER HANDS NOW.

INSTEAD OF TAKING A PAIN PILL AFTER A SURGERY, I HAD MOM GIVE ME A MASSAGE. AFTER 30 MINUTES SHE    HAD RUBBED ALL THE PAIN AWAY. WHEN SOMEONE CAME OVER WITH A NECK ACHE, AFTER A FEW MOMENTS WITH MY MOM THEY HUGGED AND KISSED HER. THE PAIN HAD DISAPPEARED. DOGS SAT BACKWARDS RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY MOM SO SHE COULD RUB THEIR BACK. WHEN SHE STOPPED, THEY TURNED AROUND THE OTHER WAY.

FOR THOSE WHO KNOW ME, ALL THE DOCTORS WHO GOT ME THROUGH MY HEALTH ISSUES SAID IF I WASN’T IN SUCH GOOD NUTRITIONAL HEALTH I NEVER WOULD HAVE MADE IT.

I LAUGH BECAUSE I NEVER GOT TWINKIES IN MY LUNCH BAG. I GOT AN APPLE STUFFED WITH PEANUT BUTTER.

AND WHEN SMOKING WAS STILL ALLOWED IN PARTS OF A RESTAURANT AND WE WERE SITTING NEXT TO A SMOKER, MOM WOULD BRING OUT A TINY FAN AND BLOW THE SMOKE BACK AT THE PEOPLE.

MAMA LEE (THE TERM MAMA LEE WAS COINED BY MY BEST FRIEND/BROTHER OF 53 YEARS, SOTOS) WAS ALSO AN ARTIST AND DESIGNER. BECAUSE OF HER LOVE FOR THE DANCE, ALL HER ARTWORK HAD MOVEMENT IN IT, EVERYTHING SHE DID HAD MOVEMENT, FROM THE WAY SHE HUNG PICTURES, THE WAY SHE PUT DECOR OR PUT FOOD ON THE PLATE..ALL WITH HER LOVE OF MOVEMENT APPARENT. MY MOM HAD A NATURAL EYE FOR FORM AND HOW THINGS FLOWED TOGETHER. IN HER YOUNGER YEARS SHE DRESSED WITH EXOTIC JEWELRY, INTERESTING CLOTHING, LONG BLACK HAIR AND DRAMATIC, BUT SIMPLE MAKE UP.

ALL IN ALL MY MOM WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE TRIO, AND DEFINITELY WAS THE GLUE THAT KEPT US ALL CONNECTED..