Claire Ambrosini, a life-long South Ender, died on October 29. She was born Claire Ayube at Boston City Hospital in 1927 and grew up in the New York Streets and at Castle Square.

She was involved with numerous community groups, at Holy Trinity Church as a teenager, at the Cathedral, in Chinatown, with the city and the schools, and on the SNAP board, which is where we met in the mid-80s. "All my life I've been active," she would say.

One of Claire's claims to fame was being the first crossing guard at Cathedral Projects; another was waitress at the Red Fez. In those days, everything was big: the homemade grapeleaves and the salads, but not the tips. Claire discovered that her boss was taking the tips, leaving Claire with $3 at the end of the night-on a weekend.

She was, unfortunately, no stranger to tragedy. Huntington's disease claimed several family members, including her father when she was 19. She lost two sons to AIDS. But, as emphasized at her memorial service, she always found the strength to pull through.

Funny the things you remember about people. I used to walk by Hamersley's, recently closed, and think about Claire telling me how much she liked the chicken. It stuck in my mind because Hamersley's was such an expensive restaurant, one I went to only once. The food was "like we used to have: mashed potatoes, meatloaf," she said.

Several days a week, she sat, often alone, and had coffee at Francesca's, sometimes Garden of Eden, and later Giorgiana's. All were restaurants near her home on Clarendon Street.

When I went to Claire's memorial service at the Cathedral, which was officiated by Fr. Walter Waldron of St. Patrick's, a good friend of Claire from his days at the Cathedral, I learned she had a beautiful singing voice. She used to sing at the Cathedral on Palm Sunday, he said.

I'm always talking about the Old South End, but at the memorial I found myself in a crowd from the Old Old South End, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Claire leaves her husband Vincent and sons Tom and Vinnie.

Alison Barnet is the author of South End Character, Speaking Out on Neighborhood Change. You can buy her book at the South End Food Emporium, 465 Columbus Avenue, and the South End Branch Library. They do it for the neighborhood and make no profit from the sale.