I miss Sylvie, one of my Mansion friends. I haven’t seen her in weeks, except to wave through a window, and the state doesn’t want outsiders coming around to the Mansion at all right now.

But we are in touch. Sylvie is my Mansion Pen Pal, I send her stamps and envelopes and she writes me a letter almost every day.

In today’s letter, she writes about how much she loved her mother and also thanks me for the lunches I’ve been sending over to the Mansion via Jean’s Place every Wednesday.

Sylvie is one of the many remarkable characters I’ve met at the Mansion. The daughter of an American diplomat send to Europe after World War II, she saw the harrowing aftermath of the war.

She got ill in Europe and ended up spending most of her life in different institutions. She had a boyfriend she loved very much who died in the hospital where she was saying. He loved bingo.

In his honor, she refuses to play bingo.

She uses up stamps much faster than I can replace them, she writes letters day and night.

Sylvie is a devout Jehovah’s Witness and writes extensively about Jehovah and faith. The Mansion is a Medicaid Assisted Care Facility.

We started the Pen Pal Mansion Program when the Pandemic started and the residents could no longer have visitors. People can write letters via e-mail – [email protected] – or to the Mansion directly – The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

The residents participating in the program are Edith, Dale, Gary, Ellen, Matt, Gerry, Sylvie, Joanne, Madeline, Brother Peter, Helen, Georgianna, Georgiann, Barbara, Alanna, Linda, Nancy, Annette, Peggie, Becky, Jean, Robert (Bert), Ben, John, Jim, Claudia, Ruth.

Thanks, these messages mean the world to them, especially now.