Photo by Kathy Tran at House of Dirt
Their mothers were rehearsing for a PTA program, and their older brothers were students at Hogg.
“From that time on, until high school, Cheryl and I were besties,” Bass says.
They were “Barbie doll buddies” and still own most of the dolls and Barbie accoutrement they played with as kids.
The two friends drifted apart in high school because Collier went to Sunset, and Bass went to Adamson. One was a Bisonette, and one was a Leopardette, roses of different names.
They kept in touch but went away to different colleges and married. Commiserating on divorces brought them back together and gave seed to their adult friendship. They drifted apart again but reunited when their mothers died around the same time.
Now they’re both empty nesters living in Dallas, and pre-pandemic times found them shopping and having dinner in the Bishop Arts District about once a week. Bass has lived in the Knox/Henderson area for many years, and Collier lives in Lake Highlands, but she inherited her childhood home, on Colorado Boulevard near Methodist Dallas Medical Center, and is restoring it.
Bass is a retired lawyer and municipal judge.
She has another longtime friend from her Leopardette days, Cindy Hiegel Sloan. Their children were born six months apart and grew up like brother and sister.
“There’s something about growing up in Oak Cliff. We know a lot of the same people and have had similar life experiences,” Bass says. “It’s a friendship like no other.”
