This note, attached to the door, greeted Carol when she returned home from a school board convention. It was a little momento of Anne's great for her mom.

It's now one of the memories Anne left behind, following a fatal bicycle accident.

Sometimes after a funeral, the family is forgotten and life goes on. There were very unique qualities in this 13-year-old and her family that will never be forgotten, however.

Anne was a non-judgmental neighborhood ambassador. She loved older people, small children, classmates, Mom's home-sewn dresses, animals, fishing and especially, her family.

 She had been so loved at birth that her teen-age mother gave her up for adoption. Larry and Carol and their two sons, Bill and David, welcomed the baby to their home.

Carol talks about how lucky they were to walk into a room and to see this perfect, healthy baby placed in their arms. They also were impressed with the obligations involved in the adoption.

Carol describes her family as a black and white picture, Anne added the color, she says.

As Anne grew up, the family frequently would speak of her birth family. Extra school papers and pictures were saved so that they could someday be shared. Advice columnist Ann Landers' columns about adoption, both pro and con, were discussed.

Anne often would say that she would like to see her birth mother, but she would add to Carol, "I'll always love you, Mom.

The time was never quite right. Anne had so much to do. There were dolls and stuffed animals to love and the baby chicks which came to Grandpa s home each spring after school ended. Her career plans included taking over Grandpa's farm so they could raise sheep, horses, dogs and cats.

Anne always reassured her Grandpa of the dream's success by saying, "We'll have fun. You'll see."

On August 30, Anne and a friend stopped to see Anne's Mom, who was painting a rental apartment. The girls had gone out to the high school building. Anne was excited about starting eighth grade there in a few days.

The two girls had decided to bike two miles out in the country to her friend's home. Carol suggested River Road would probably be a better route than the highway. Anne left with a "Bye, Mom, I love you" and was off for an afternoon of fun, playing house with her friend's 7 year old cousin.

Anne was not an experienced highway bicycle rider. She misjudged a car's speed and the results were tragic. Although, the man that hit her claims that he saw her one minute, on one side of the road, and then he didn't see her after that. He hit her while she was on the shoulder of the road.

Anne's death began a whole new chapter in her family's lives. After the initial shock passed, they made plans to try to locate Anne's birth mother. A call was placed to the agency. By some miracle, the birth mother had made a contact some time ago with the agency, leaving her telephone number. Within an hour of the initial call, Brenda received a call with the tragic news of the accident. There was also an invitation from Anne's family for Brenda and her family to come to the funeral.

When Brenda heard of the invitation, there was never a moment's hesitation, she said. She was going to the funeral. Even though she had a husband and three little boys, the daughter she had given up for adoption "was a part of my life every day."

While Brenda was pregnant with Anne her classmates taunted her. She escaped to her home where she was knitting a blanket. When it was finished, Brenda mailed it to the adoption agency, writing that it was for her child's adoptive parents, to give to their new daughter. She asked not to be told if the adoptive parents refused the blanket. Brenda didn't want to know about the rejection.

Anne's family, however, were overjoyed to receive the gift. Carol used the blanket sparingly and kept it in its origional box. As Anne grew older, Carol explained the love of her birth mother, expressed in the beautiful stitches.

Anne would say, "When I meet her someday, I'll carry the blanket and then she ll know I'm hers." The blanket would prove to be a great bonding agent, as Anne had hoped.

Brenda's husband and Dad accompanied her on the 2 1/2 hour ride, for the funeral.

Understanding funeral directors arranged for a private place for the momentous occasion. Brenda and her family went to the second floor room. She felt as if she waited hours and that the room was closing in on her. In addition, she still had some small doubts that this was not her little girl. That someone had made a mistake.

The reunion was a tearful outpouring of love between the families, something of a mountain-top experience. After sharing the overwhelming emotion for a time, Carol took Brenda's hand and said "Have you seen Anne?" They went down to the room and the first thing Brenda saw wasn't her daughter, Anne, but the blanket that she had knit. It was lying on Anne's lap.

"I sobbed and sobbed and then I knew," was Brenda's humble way of explaining the moment.

Later in the evening, the families went to Anne's families home. Here, nature vs. nurture became evident. Anne and Brenda were not outstanding students in school, scholastically. They both enjoyed working with yarn. Their hair was the same texture. They both enjoyed fishing and horses. Both played the trumpet and neither of them did very well when it came to their piano lessons. They both had very outgoing personalities.

As Brenda and her family prepared to go back to the motel, Carol hugged Brenda and said, "Good night, Mom." That was what Anne would have done.

The next day both families attended the funeral together. They were overwhelmed by the large crowd that had come to return some of the love Anne had spread in her short life.

Brenda says that when she saw the crowd, she had no regrets. It was "a great experience, although not a way you would want to meet your child. I could deal with this---how much loving she brought to everyone, I can't be sad."