I met my cousin Linda only a few times after the Hannons returned from Guam and moved back to Rhode Island, but I feel that I knew her very well, because she's family.

One of the first things I noticed about her when we met in the early '70s, was that she had the "look." The look was that of all the Hannon girls, and in fact, the rest of our extended family. If you put her in a lineup with her mom (my Aunt Barbara), Linda's five sisters, and all the other aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces in the family, you'd have only age to tell us apart.

It's no surprise that Linda and Bob had such a long and successful relationship, because Bob's Navy, as so many of us in the family have been - going all the way back to our grandmother, who was a US Navy Yeomanette, having served during WWI. Maybe Linda was influenced by Nana's time in the service. Or maybe when driving past Quonset Point on her way home to Warwick, and seeing the huge "Sea Bee" statue outside of the main gate to the Navy base there. Or maybe her time living on Guam drew her to the Navy and Bob's uniform. Either way, she found the Navy influence to be irresistable, and we're happy that Bob was the lucky one.

Linda had her sisters, 14 cousins, their wives, kids, as well as many more from our family pulling for her during her fight. Bob and Scott should know that we're also pulling for them during this difficult time.

All of my best wishes,

Dougie