THE WOMEN OF TROY HILL

From a Pittsburgh-based correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, an admirably nuanced group portrait of six elderly women whose wise reflections on life, friendship, and faith quietly affirm the enduring values of close-knit communities.

Friendship, religion and (most importantly) neighborhood connect the six elderly women Ansberry selected. Troy Hill, less than two miles from downtown Pittsburgh, has been home to generations of their families. It is a place "where you don't meet people, they're there . . . they're a part of life." The women attend one of the Hill's three churches, help local charities, volunteer at events like the Presbyterian strawberry festival, and shop at the local stores. But what they do best is "neighbor," for, as one octogenarian tells Ansberry, "Men worked, women neighbored." Neighboring, which their mothers and grandmothers did (and they have continued to do), means keeping in touch, finding out who is ill or in need, visiting the sick, taking the house-bound food, and helping out when tragedy strikes. None of the women is particularly well-off, though Mary (a former teacher and the local historian who fought to get a historic neighborhood chapel preserved) can afford to travel and Cecilia (who never married and was a private secretary for the CEO of the Heinz Corporation) lives in the biggest house on the hill. Still, both do their share of "neighboring." Ansberry introduces us to them and others—like Margaret (who married a man who loved music as she did), Emma (a gardener who makes people feel good about themselves), Ernestine (who still cares for the sick and wishes she had been a nurse), and Edna (an avid sports fan, museumgoer, and book-lover). All have been touched by grief and sorrow, but all remain remarkably resilient and cheerful.

Without being sentimental or condescending, Ansberry perceptively celebrates women who still honor and nurture friends and neighbors as a way of life. A rich read.