B00C4I7LJE EBOK (28 page)

And sometimes in the house when I’m chasing my ball, I forget to stop running till I crash into the wall.

It might be true that I really am not the absolute smartest cat on the block,

But I’ve big yellow eyes and silky soft fur, and if you’ll pet me, I’ve got a dynamite purr!

The race isn’t always to the swift, or the battle to the strong . . . Well, unless you’re a lion.

Hey! Lions are blond!

So if you want a terrific little cat, you really can’t go wrong with a little black cat who
could’ve
been blond!”

The Dustbiters were invited as surprise guests when Phyllis Diller appeared on
The Rosie Show
in 2011. L-R: Corrine Hanley, Carole Beams, Ingrid Chapman, Robin Skone-Palmer, and Karla Thomas.

Photo: Garret Boyajian

The final reunion of the Diller Dustbiters at Phyllis’s home in August 2011. L-R: Jenny Cooney, Sandy Beach, Carole Beams, Heidi Rotbart, Robin Skone-Palmer, Corrine Hanley (directly behind Phyllis), Mercer Helms, Ingrid Chapman, Karen China, and Carol Eschler.

Phyllis set the date of the next reunion for August 19, 2012, but two weeks before the annual luncheon, her son Perry sent a note that his mother was not well. She died on August 20, at age 95.

Phyllis Diller beside her “Spotlight” painting, 2009.

Robin Skone-Palmer with Phyllis Diller, August 2011.

An original Phyllis Diller painting to illustrate the verse she’d asked Robin to write for her 2010 Christmas card.

The poem inside the card was written by Robin Skone-Palmer. She and Diller collaborated on several such projects.

Robin’s poem in 2010 was “such a hit,” Phyllis asked her to write another for 2011 (below) that accompanied a cartoon of a cat in a police lineup.

A typical Phyllis Diller note, this one signed as “Madam,” poking fun at former husband Warde Donovan, who addressed her as “Madam” when in the presence of staff members.

Another thank you note to the author from Phyllis Diller, who with this signature is poking fun at herself.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many friends urged me to write about my experiences with Phyllis, and I appreciate their faith in me. I particularly want to thank Suzy Berg of Houston and Paula Roseberry here in Las Vegas, who continually encouraged and supported me, and never stopped asking, “How’s the book coming?”

I also want to thank Lois Cadwallader for being my cheerleader. She introduced me to Larry Edwards, my editor
par excellence
, who took what I’d written and smoothed it out.

Perry Diller kindly provided the pictures of his mother for me to use, which I greatly appreciate.

Ingrid Chapman, my former roommate and avid photographer, was invaluable in providing the pictures for this book. Although she is busy running her own business, whenever I asked, Ingrid would take the time to shuffle through reunion photos to send me “the one of the Dustbiters in front of the spotlight” or “the one where I was wearing a flowered dress.”