Our niece, Nicole Zabelny, died thirty years ago. Her heart was enlarged. I babysat for her and her two sisters on Wednesday nights for almost three years while my sister, Ann, was working as a hostess at Waldron’s in Webster. I would leave work early and ride my bike out there, down the big hill on Browncroft or the even more dangerous one on Empire Boulevard. I’d play with the kids, feed them, struggle to get them wound down and in bed and then put a baked potato in the oven for my sister to have when she got home. I’d have a beer with my sister and Peggi would come out to take me home in the car. I loved every minute of it. Nicole was always a delight. She was very creative, talked of becoming a writer, and had big plans for her life but it was cut short. Way too short.
Just before she got sick, she asked me to paint her portrait. I said I’d bring my camera out the next Wednesday and take a photo to work from. Nicole made a big deal of the sitting, picking the white chair on the porch as the location and wearing her favorite t-shirt and then spending over an hour in the bathroom putting on make-up. She was twelve. By the time she was ready to sit down it was getting dark and there was barely enough light for the film in our old Canon FTb. I had the film developed when the roll was finished but Nicole was already gone by then. She was such a positive force. She will never be forgotten.
Shortly before our niece, Nicole Zabelny, passed she created a children’s book in her sixth grade art class. Her book, “Counting At The Circus” is available here as a free download.
Download eBook of “Counting At The Circus“”
2 Comments
Can’t we see the portrait ?
We loved Nicole so much. She was our favorite babysitter for our children, Valerie and Matthew Pacer. We were devastated by her passing. My husband and I visited her when she was in the hospital in Pittsburgh around Thanksgiving. I remember sobbing in the car when we left the hospital because it was apparent that she wasn’t going to be coming home. We think of Nicole frequently and truly loved her. Thank you for making her book available. I have downloaded it and will share it with our (now adult) children and their children. As long as her name is spoken and we think about her, she will never truly be gone. We miss you so much, Nicole. I cherish memories of our visits to Darien Lake. Rest in peace and know you are loved and remembered.