When Velma and Togo attended The Art Students League in NYC, they became great friends.  Both were realist painters in a sea of abstractionists.  They posed for each other in the school's studio when it was empty at night.  Then they would head downtown to the lower Eastside to eat cheap but hearty Ukrainian food and hang out with the art crowd at various gallery openings.  In 1974, her father was killed accidently in a drive-by shooting. After that traumatic event, Velma dropped out of school and devoted her time to supporting her mother and younger brothers.  Togo last saw her working at the make-up counter in Macy's.