Aunt Barbara’s Cambridge Condo

My dad and I traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2011 because his sister died unexpectedly. I lived in Portland, Oregon, and he lived in NW Indiana, an hour from Chicago.

Over the front entrance to the condo building

Massachusetts Part 6

Today my dad and I went to the funeral home and got Aunt Barbara’s death certificate (and met two guys with strong Boston accents).

It took us maybe ten minutes to walk from the hotel to Aunt Barbara’s condo building. It’s on Memorial Drive, a major street along the Charles River, which separates Cambridge from Boston.

The building itself is a tall 1920s brick gothic revival structure. The location is amazing: the condo faces the Charles River, and you can see Boston on the other side.

My dad called Leroy, the building manager, on his cell phone, and he met us at the regal front doors and let us into the building. The hall had black and white tile floors, white walls, and dark wood trim, doors, and staircase. Leroy took us up the elevator, which stopped conveniently right outside Aunt Barbara’s door, on which a wreath and a little tennis racket hung.