DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Nearly two years ago, the most amazing donation arrived at the Little Thrift Shop in Dunedin.
A pearl collar necklace.
“She’s the only person who could wear it, that was my thought,” said Miriam Benitez-Nixon, who immediately envisioned it draped around the neck of the powerhouse Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “It was meant, it was meant for her!”
So when a black velvet box big enough to store the piece of jewelry showed up at the shop, Miriam grabbed a pen and wrote a letter.
“We knew no one could wear it like you,” the letter read. ”We pray for your speedy recovery.”
This was shortly after Ginsburg underwent lung cancer surgery.
Several ladies in the thrift shop signed it and then, “We sent it off not expecting anything,” said Benitez-Nixon.
Until a letter from the Supreme Court of the United States arrived in the mailbox. In hindsight, Miriam and the ladies say they wouldn’t have expected any less.
“I guess not,” she laughed, ash she acknowledged Ginsburg’s prompt personality.
In the letter — Ginsburg thanked the ladies for the gift and promised to wear it on her first sitting back in court. A courtroom sketch that Miriam hung on the wall inside the thrift shop gave them hope that the promise was kept.
“Were assuming that’s it, it looks like it was very very close to that,” said Dottie Bellavance.
It’s why news of Ginsburg’s passing on Friday stung a bit.
“I was so heartbroken Friday night when I found out,” said Benitez-Nixon.
“I’m gonna miss her terribly,” Estelle Comeau.
Hilda Myers said, “We just assume she was going to live forever.”
And most legends do — in the hearts and minds of the people who refuse to forget them and the great things they accomplished.
“You know they call her the notorious RBG but I think she was mighty,” said Benitez-Nixon. “Because even though she was only a couple of inches taller than me, she was mighty!"
