Margie, the Other Mother

For Mother’s Day, my Sun column tells the story of Pam Rostek-Kuwazaki and Margie Kaniecki, the next door neighbor who became Pam’s Other Mother as she was growing up in the Canton section of Baltimore. The photo at the top of this post shows Margie with Pam at age 5, goofing around on Pam’s bike. . . . It happens all across Baltimore — a grandparent or sometimes a neighbor pitching in to care for children of working parents — and while some of those arrangements last a few months or a few years, some last forever. Some women reach the stature of Other Mother, and such was the case with Miss Margie. (My Other Mother came into my life when I arrived in Baltimore in the 1970s.)

Pam shared dozens of photographs of Margie; here are a few.

Sun column: Celebrating the Other Mother from next door