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Arlene Frances "Zelda" Karnafel June 18, 1946 - February 14, 2001 Zelda It may have been on Valentine's day when I met Arlene and her friend Freddy (Elfrieda) in 1968, the last year she attended the University of Wisconsin. At that moment, I mistook feeling the ground shift beneath my feet for something other than huge and permanent shift in direction my life was about to take. It may have been on Valentine's Day in 1969 when I went to Albuquerque for a few hours to see if this new direction could not be changed. For the first time in 40 years I'm in Albuquerque. October 6, 2008 for three days of work related conference at the Hilton, Menual & University. The last evening I walked to UNM, on several accosted persons' advice, dinner at El Patio De Albuquerque on Harvard, l feel Arlene present. Over the years, Arlene, in my mind more than monthly, her name Googled periodically. After working the polling place last week, thinking of being in Grant Park 40 years before, expense report completing online, yet again I Google her name. Nothing new, seen it often before, listing shows 1916 & Zelda, surely someone else, but this time I follow the link... My heart breaks again, and goes out to those who knew and were close to her, as my memories of 40 years, a mere eight, can not dim the brightness. Valentine's Day now redefined, I offer comfort, especially to the sister I never met and may have never known I existed. A short life was not her correct fate, nor yours, her absence, whatever the cause. This week past, hugely conflicted, perhaps the greatest of my life, for happiness, health, family and goodness have always been my wishes for Arlene and her life. Zelda? The name, let alone its referent, buried so deep, nearly faded to gone. Some memories hold substantially true for 40+ years, but "Zelda" comes as a name made up by summer of '68 roommates, Carl and Jill. I slept in the kitchen, the apartment with only that, a bathroom (my occasional bedroom to give Carl and Jill privacy) and theirs, the one other room. Arlene, working on Michigan Avenue, was there only rarely. Is anyone left knowing when/why Arlene became Zelda? Will they Google my name and help with the closure I forlornly seek? For I will be working away, at the places they find there, for years yet, following the direction she lead me, thinking her name. This Veteran's Day 2008 in Madison, Wisconsin, Ward Kroencke
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