ABSTRACT
I n September of 1984 we made another successful trip with the wheelchair, this time to Moscow, Leningrad, and Helsinki. The occasion was an international conference on algebra and
analysis to celebrate the anniversary of the Steklov Institute, the mathematical institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. After our trip, Dorothy seemed less active than usual and was briefly hospitalized with tests for a possible Leningrad virus. She lost some of her normal optimism and did not always stoutly declare that she would be walking well again in two months. Walking did go harder, but she kept at it, even when it took her 80 minutes to go two blocks. In December 1984, she had a brief and unexplained loss of consciousness, followed by another short stay in the hospital. Dr. Mark Siegler, her physician, encouraged her to keep active, so she decided to come with me on a trip to Germany in March, even if it meant using the wheelchair she so detested. Once again, when people asked her how she was, she would always reply, “Just fine,” though her private memos reflected troubles. She enjoyed writing letters to Cynthia and talking to Gretchen by phone.
