Lydia Reis, the Umbrella Lady, known to many
There are few things in life that make a lasting impression. Especially, when you’re driving along Ina or Oracle Road. One of those impressions was seeing the “Umbrella Lady." We never met her, so we never knew her, but we did see her on oracle… umbrella open…cart in hand… on a hot day, on a cold day, on a dry day, on a wet day.
Hit an Run on Ina Road
We won’t see her anymore because she was hit by a car on Ina Road. She was hit by a car and left to die. She was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Indeed, these were life-threatening, because she died this past Sunday. There is nothing that is going to replace her. she was unique and known by thousands, who never knew her personally.
Words come hard to express this tragedy.
Words come hard to express this tragedy.
We present the following homage from our love reader Nombe Wantanombe
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umbrella
tangerine to limberlost
4200 pounds of german steel
I know you’ve seen them as you drive on by
leather lined tinted glass
the black clad sun blasted hopeless
the drug wasted
the lost the broken the sad
this one was different
a more gentle soul
broken but somehow triumphant
a smile a laugh a wave
a bright umbrella bent and broken by the side of the road
Dust and blood
Less color less joy
A loss to us all
Nombe Watanombe
4200 pounds of german steel
I know you’ve seen them as you drive on by
leather lined tinted glass
the black clad sun blasted hopeless
the drug wasted
the lost the broken the sad
this one was different
a more gentle soul
broken but somehow triumphant
a smile a laugh a wave
a bright umbrella bent and broken by the side of the road
Dust and blood
Less color less joy
A loss to us all
Nombe Watanombe
- - -
Note: An earlier version of this article stated that Lydia did not ride in cars because of a tragic family related accident that occurred years earlier. We have been unable to confirm that so we have removed it from the article.
