Wistful Wednesday : Another Goodbye

One by one my Maternal Grandparents immediate family is dwindling.

There are only three children left…my Mother and two of her brothers Al and Kenny.

This is a photo taken in 1961 at the farm where I grew up.  Those sections of boards going horizontal used to mark the walls of the old pantry. When my parents remodeled the house in 1959-1960 the pantry walls were removed and a picture window was added. The drapes were off white with shades of green tropical plants and small pink flowers…wall to wall drapes.  My Mother sewed the drapes.

This is a photo of my grandparents and their children with their spouses in 1961.

from the left the stars ** are living persons

**Madeline and **Jake (my parents)

Marion and Marvin both deceased in 2004

Vivian “Skip” (2007) and Theron (1978) both deceased

Delbert in back (2009) and Delores (2018)  both deceased.  Aunt Delores died last Friday night/Saturday morning in her sleep.

Dennis in back and **Judy  Uncle Dennis is deceased (2015). My Aunt Judy is Delores sister…brothers married sisters.

Esther “Toots” (1996) and Ray (2004) both deceased

Clarence “Butch” in back (1993) and Kay (2017) both deceased

Elsie and Albert my Grandparents both deceased in 1995

**Al (standing behind my Grandparents)  He wasn’t married in 1961.  He did marry **Pat, divorced and now is married to **Donna.

In front is the Twins

Karen she was married to and divorced from **Al Dean  She is deceased (2017).

**Kenneth “Kenny”  married to **Linda.

Two children died before this photo was taken Alfred 1947 in and James in 1948.

I saw my Aunt Delores a few weeks ago.  She asked “Do I know you?” I said “Yes I am Connie” she replied “Of course you are” and gave me a hug. She had been more confused since moving into assisted living this spring. The funeral is later this week. What a blessing to sleep away during the night. No long drawn out hospital stay or convalescing in “the home.”

Wistful Wednesday: Aunt Skip

Not all my Mother’s sisters had nicknames…but Vivian did…she was Skippy or Skip for short.

Someone took this photo of Skip and me (My Mom) in 1949. My Mom was four years older than Aunt Skip.

Aunt Skip

She married my Uncle Theron, he was a wonderful kind man, a Korean War Veteran and he drove a Buick (red and white).  I do not recall their wedding, I think it was a private ceremony.

Aunt Skip and Uncle Theron would have three children together and he ran a very successful business until he developed a brain tumor.  Sometimes I would visit at meal times in the hospital because he couldn’t feed himself or speak so that you could understand.  He always knew who I was I could tell by the smile in his eyes.  Eventually he was moved to a Nursing Home where he would spend the rest of his days unable to care for himself. He suffered for two years before he died when he was 49 years old.

The funeral was held in this church on a very cold November day.  I did not recall this church until I saw it last week.

When my Aunt Skip died 30 years years later I attended the wake and not the funeral.  She had remarried…twice I think…one husband was a gold digger.   She was real keen on spiritual drawings and felt the spirit moved her to draw…maybe so…but I remained skeptical.  Some people need to cling to something when they have lost most everything.

Aunt Skip was a wonderful baker, she could have opened her own bakery.  She made the best white frosting covered in coconut fried roll you have ever tasted…even half frozen out of her freezer they were delicious.   She also made our wedding cake.

I wanted to find her gravesite.  Aunt Skip was 73 years old and had some kind of cancer when she died in 2007.