Let me get straight to the point: If you were going to be friends with Vikki, you had to join HER world. Though the years, that meant golf, doll-making, cake baking, 4-H projects, wine drinking with the Red Hatters or St. Julian girls, doing Home Interiors, crocheting - heck, anything to do with crafts. And shopping. Or man-bashing. In later years, her interest centered on "film appreciation" (she owned over 3000 DVDs). I met Vikki when she started at Welches following the shutdown of Duo-Tang. Originally thought to be a mature, quiet, middle-aged woman, if you were lucky enough to get close to Vikki, you learned that she could get quite bawdy, and could out-prank the best of them. A declared man-hater, only a chosen few of them escaped her barbed comments and vitriol ... her father and her beloved Ted - though she often made allowances for Kempton, Rick, Dennis, and eventually, John. We often sat together at the picnic tables or in the "butt hut" during breaks, but our relationship was more of a work friend, acquaintance type. We didn't grow close until the last few months of the Welch downsizing and I think we were both somewhat surprised when the friendship grew to weekly get-togethers, viewing any one (and often two or three) of her many DVDs - or discussing Catholicism (she, a convert, I, cradle-born). Some of these evenings turned into marathons, often lasting through a pack or more of cigarettes and into the wee hours of the morning. COVID changed all of that. We still spoke by phone several times a week, but she slowly began to withdraw, eventually becoming very much a recluse. I will miss my friend. Very much. She often questioned why anyone would want to be her friend. I have an answer. Vikki brought light and laughter to one's life. She let you know that you were important to her, appreciated. Just ask any one of the many that called her "friend".
