Mom
died December 4, at age 92, from alzheimers and a urinary tract
infection, in a nursing home. Chrissy and I were at her side for the
final 5-6 hours. She was buried in a private ceremony with minister
and I in attendance. No calling hours. Dad died in January 1998 of
leukemia. Dad was a pattern maker for many years, and when Alliance
Machine and Alliance structural were in their heyday, he worked on the
patterns for some of the world's largest cranes. Today, computers and
automated lathes do what he did by hand. We still still have some clocks, lamps, tables, and phone stands made by him.
As
kids were were lucky and had toys made by him, from scooters to stilts
- the only ones in the neighbor with stilts (remember, when I was a
kid, it was almost the dark ages, television was still black and white
and cinemascope was just starting to come into being. There were no
walk man, no ipods, no computers, and, God forbid, no cell phones.
There was even a school dress code. Sex was whispered in the locker
rooms, not spoken about commonly.
Aunt
Dorothy and Uncle Del are both deceased (right). He died March 18,
2001, and she died on Easter (March 31, 2002) the following year.
Uncle was an avid golfer and bowler. So was she. Both were active
to within a year of their departures.
Brother Del
has not been seen or heard from in 6 years, not since Mom called his
wife a Blankin (w)itch and her daughter the same thing and banned them
from the house. My brother was never one for rejection.
Mom
had been told he died in 2003, by the "witch" (am being polite). Now that Mom is dead, he has surfaced contesting the
will. After 7 years of abandonment, he now wants something. Just like
him. He even submitted a phony will. Refuses to talk to me. Also lies
about how he called and visited. He married a shrew and unlike Petuccio could not Tame her.
The
family is down to Me. Aunt Mae, who was Dad's youngest sister, is in a
nursing home and will be 102 this year Dad's two oldest sisters died
the following two years after he did. Aunt Dorothy was mom's sister.
