If the name sounds familiar, it is because Ouida Mintz is Jerry Mintz' mother, and has been a volunteer in the AERO office for ten years. She took piano lessons from the same teacher as Leonard Bernstein and played with orchestra before he did. At one point Lenny was jealous of her. She also played violin duets with Myron Wallace, now known as Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes fame. The first line of the book quotes Lenny as saying to teen-aged Ouida, "You know, when I grow up I think I'm going to do something in music!" Jerry got his mother started with the book project and she got help from Ray Sandiford, her good friend of the last 9 years (whom she found in the personals after her husband's death 14 years ago), who typeset the book, including the scanning of 150 pictures. They are both octogenarians. In the fifties Ouida wrote popular music. She hired a soft-spoken Queens College student to sing her demonstration records, sometimes singing duets with him. She paid him $10 or $20 for each session. That was Paul Simon! Mike Wallace says of the book, "I really enjoyed the nostalgia." Bernstein's son Alexander says, "Much of what you describe is news to me! I was delighted by the way you capture the energy not only of the man, but of the times as well."