A Letter To Charles Barkley — For My Aunt

To an NBA legend whose humanity often gets lost in sound bytes, some words of thanks from someone who can no longer say them.

I want to tell you about my great-aunt, Shirley Rosenthal, who passed away a year ago at the age of 88. I’d like to talk to you about her because she liked to talk to me — and everyone else — about you.

A career secretary, Aunt Shirley married my dad’s Uncle Norman and settled in the South Jersey suburbs, where she enjoyed her status as the “unofficial mayor” of her local swim club. She lived in a one-story ranch house with five small-but-cozy rooms — a home if ever there was one. The few decorations in that home could be divided, almost exclusively, into three…