DEAR ABBY: I have read with interest the letters you have printed from readers about the difficulties they encountered when trying to settle the family estate after the parents pass on.
Before Mom and Dad died, they let it be known they didn't want any arguments or hard feelings during or after we kids divided up their worldly possessions. As executor of the estate, I felt responsible but had not yet devised a method for dividing the estate.
The day we six brothers and sisters arrived at the homestead in Oconto, Wis., Mom and Dad must have been watching over us. During the preliminary discussion, one of my sisters suggested that we put our names in a bowl for anything we wanted in the house and simply draw for it with no limitations. The next two days we spent together turned out to be the most heartwarming, enjoyable experience for all of us. I still remember my sisters ORDERING me to put my name in the bowl for an antique dish that I wasn't interested in but they thought my wife might like.
I still have the small aluminum bowl with all our names engraved on it. I also still have the note my wife gave me as I left our house for Oconto: "Dear Bill, please remember that there is no material thing on this Earth more important than family." -- BILL HOPPE, WAUKESHA, WIS.
DEAR BILL: Regardless of the material possessions your parents may or may not have left behind, you come from a wealthy family. And your wife is a jewel.