This is about all I knew about her: Emily Salmon was about my age, didn't smoke, loved dogs, and was trying to go vegetarian. She lived in Hagerstown, where she worked as an afterschool aide. But as she said in an e-mail, "Hagerstown is no place for a single person with no family. I want to meet more people." She wanted to become a math teacher, so she was going to move to Catonsville and take classes at CCBC. She was going to rent my spare bedroom. I only met her the one time she came over to see the room; she seemed like a really nice person.
She was supposed to come over last Saturday to sign paperwork and get a key, but I never heard from her. I figured she had decided at the last minute to take a room elsewhere, or got cold feet about moving (she seemed a little nervous about it).
Today I got a call from her cousin. Emily passed away. I don't know the details.
I didn't know her at all. But in a couple of months we could have been friends. And that seems to call for some sort of commemoration. So may you rest in peace, Emily.