PATRICIA LYNN HENLEY earned a master’s degree in journalism from Stanford University, followed by 10 years as a reporter and news editor at the twice weekly Sonoma Index-Tribune; five years as a freelance writer; and four and a half years as a senior staff writer at the consumer website CostHelper.com. Her portfolio is online at www.PatriciaLynnHenley.com.

ELDA DEL BINO WILLITTS believed that our everyday reality is full of beauty. She strove to live a life of loving-kindness and said that the more she gave, the more she got. At age ninety-five, with her body slowly failing her, she embraced life but had no fear of death. Elda passed away peacefully in her home in Sonoma, California, on Jan. 11, 2005; she was a 45-year cancer survivor who died of old age.