I just learned that my ex-boss and friend for thirty years has died of a massive stroke.

Hope Waldecker was the owner of the Auctioneer’s Inn – a restaurant located in the middle of a corn field in rural Wisconsin. I worked at the Inn on and off for six or seven years – most of the time as a waiter. At her best she was boisterous, colorful – a teriffic singer in complete control of the room – a genuine entertainer. At her worst, she was drunk, loud, argumentative, pushy.

Was it just a year ago that her son Jeffrey James died from a heart attack at the young age of 52?

The Inn will not be the same without the two of them. They will not be forgotten.