



Agnes Sollenberger was my surrogate grandmother. She had no biological ties to me but she was the closest thing to a grandmother I had growing up. She gave my mom the much needed break from raising the three of us and she was a smart and engaged woman who lived her beliefs and morals. I wish I knew her more and could have appreciated what she meant to the world.
Mrs. Sollenberger was a soft, sweet, white-haired woman by the time she came into my life. She helped my mom through the tough time fighting for me when the adoption agency tried to take me and place me in a two-parent home. I am still unsure how my mom and she became friends, other than the fact that they met through the Fairfax Unitarian Church, which my mom had as a support during her legal battle.
As a child Mrs. Sollenberger would pick us up in her beige VW Bus and takes us out to ride bikes, or hikes, around the parks in the Northern Virginia and Maryland. She would feed us sugar wafers and Krispy Kreme donuts, and then return us home to mom sugared up and exhausted.
What I didn’t know was what a powerful and impassioned person she was. When McCarthy was conducting his hearings, she would take her anger and frustrations out on the weeds in her garden. When she saw the wrongs of segregation she would bring kids to the public pool and stand in the face of these wrongs.
Mrs. Sollenberger knew what plants and fruits were edible and what plants were which. Which was important, only after the fact, when six year old me was desperate to find a bathroom only to discover I used a poison ivy leaf.
This woman was joyful, and a guide in my life that I truly appreciated. I hope that others who were touched by her in their life, will take the time and share their stories of this amazing woman.
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