Ruth would handle supply receipts; Ellen would coordinate volunteers.

I watched from the doorway as Mom laughed about her terrible handwriting and Ellen offered to print labels.

Neither woman needed a dramatic speech.

They were two people working out how to do something decent with a difficult history.

Later I found Ruth in the kitchen, setting aside boxes of screws and measuring tape for the volunteers.

“I’ve been thinking,” she said.

“When Wendell talked about being a soldier, I imagined courage was about walking into danger without hesitation.”