November 19, 2007 Dad and Cancer
It has been 2 years since Mom passed away. We were by here bedside at this time 2 years ago, being the Monday before Thanksgiving. Today, my Dad called to let me know that he had been denied the chance to enroll in a cancer study that could have extended his life a few more months. His diagnosis is that he has 8 to 14 months left. He has been doing good. He had radiation on a cancerous lump in his hamstring. They told him that they found spots on his Lung. They have now found that he has Prostrate Cancer but they are just going to monitor it. But he has been having high pottasium and little problems here and there so he was not accepted. He has been talking to his lady friend, Karen, from Houston. He says that she wants to get married. He also says that he is thinking about going down to Houston for the winter to be with her. They have booked a cruise for February. She has tickets to come up here on December 19th and to leave on January 9th. I just don't know what his plans will be. I just want him to be happy. I will write more about this later.
First Mother's Day without Audrey
It almost seems like the holidays get worse instead of better. Thanksgiving was right after Mom passes away. I just kinda passed it by. A month later was Christmas. It was sad but I didn't have to be with Dad and the Kids. They had their own Christmas with Steve's two girls. Then came Easter and we were together at Dad's home, and it became very apparent that Mom wasn't here. Now it is Mother's Day. I never celebrated Mother's day very much in the past. I am sure I gave Mom plants or flowers from time to time but I never overdid it. We used to get together at grandma Johnson's on Mother's Day sometimes. It was a day that although I didn't place too much importance on, have become a big deal this year. I hear people wish others a happy mother's day. They say it so automatically, they don't even think about the person they say it to. I have always thought it was such a fake holiday anyway. There are so many people that no longer have their Mothers or the mother that they do have is estranged from them for a variety of reasons. There are mothers that are on drugs that have had their children taken from them. There are mothers that have disowned their kids for one reason or another. There are kids that have disowned their mothers for one reason or another. Do we really need a day to remind us of this sadness? It is something we live with everyday. But we will always have it, and I will remember my Mom and I am a mother to my kids, so it still has meaning. So I will get through tomorrow, but I don't have to like it.
Some fun with Sherry's baby pictures
I learned how to make a slideshow and share it. I took these pictures of sherry and put them together. I hope others enjoy it.
First Family dinner without Audrey 4 16 06
I haven't felt like writing anything more until today. Thanksgiving passed by and Christmas passed by in a blur. The winter was bearable and days have turned into weeks. There is not a day that I don't stop to think about mom but it has not been emotionally crippling. Thirteen days ago I went to a meeting of the Sweet Adeline's. I have always thought it was neat that they sang barbershop quartet style music. I feel mature enough now to give it a try if they will have me. When I was there, there was a lady there that couldn't catch her breath while singing. It reminded me about the day Mom, Dad, Donnie and I sat around the kitchen table and tried to blow into a lung capacity machine. Mom kept saying that she could not reach a normal level. We made excuses for her saying it must have been sinus problems or something. This was right before we found out that she had cancer. It was just a little deja vous when this lady couldn't catch her breath. It brought back a lot of memories.
But that is not the reason I am writing tonight. Today was the first sit down dinner we have had at Dad's house. Mind you, this is the house that my first husband and I had built for us 25 years ago. This is also the home my Daughter, Sherry, has been the head of for the past 5 years. Lots of memories there. Dad had bought a spiral ham and cooked it in his oven. I had got up at 9:30 this morning and peeled potatoes with my rotato peeler. I diced them with an apple corer, slicer, and after boiling them, I ran them through a ricer. They came out pretty good. I took 2 cans of creamed style corn, a frozen bag of peas and pearl onions, and I made Jake's favorite dessert that Mom used to make, Eclaire Cake. I made it the night before, with tearful eyes.
Jake came over at 11:30 and I drove to Dad's house. Sherry and Daniel met us there. Sherry and I set the table and I heated up everything and we all sat down to eat. As I was making sure everything was ready, Dad said I think we should say grace. I told him to go ahead and he said, "Dear God, Thank you for Audrey," and Sherry and I burst into tears. Dad held on to Sherry's hand and continued with his regular grace. We were all tip toeing around it, but he said what we were all feeling. It was rough, but we made it. It was a lonely time doing dishes. But I still feel a void since Grandma Johnson, Mom's Mom passed away 13 years ago. The three of us would do dishes and gossip about neighbors and family. Today, Sherry and I did carry on that tradition, but it just wasn't the same, and it never will be. One thing that is still the same... the guys don't offer to help with the dishes!
One more thing. Sherry and Dan announced their engagement this month. Dad has told Dan he can have his wedding ring for a wedding ring. I thought that was a nice gesture. I will be writing more. This helps a lot.
Audrey passes away 11/21/05 at 8:20 p.m.
It's 1 a.m. I guess that would mean it is November 22. It has been an interesting 28 hours. At about 8:30 on November 20, we were called by the nursing home saying that Mom's breathing had changed and that her nail beds were turning purple. Donnie and I were at the house on Park St. Dad gave us a call and said that he would be over. I called Buster's and Barb was not at home. I told him we were all going out to the nursing home. He said he would go find Barb and they would come out also. Dad drove through the drive way at Park Street and told us to follow him. When we got to the nursing home and saw how Mom was doing, Dad decided that we should start an around the clock watch. When Barb got there, she said that she could come in at 10 a.m. We told Dad we could watch her until 2:30 a.m. Dad said he would go home and get some sleep and we were to call him at 2:30. He said that he would call Howard, mom's brother, in the morning to see if he could come out. So I called Dad at 2:30 and he was there at 3. I will transcribe the notes I wrote between 1:40 and 2:30 that night. Donnie and I still had to unload stuff from our van at Dad's Pearl Street house. So we did so at 3:30 a.m. We got to Bettendorf at 4:30 and decided to go eat at Ross's. I will write more about all this later. Before I go to sleep tonight, I need to tell about Mom's passing. We didn't get back to Galesburg until nearly 2:30 p.m. I called the Nursing Home on their portable phone number. I asked to speak to whoever was watching Audrey in her room. The aide asked me, "Do you want to talk to Audrey?" What a question to ask me! I told her I would love to talk to Audrey but I didn't think she was in any condition to talk on the phone! Anyway she gave the phone to Barb. Barb asked us to relieve her at 4:30. We were there about 4:15. When we got there, Mom was breathing very heavy. There was a rattling sound. I asked Barb if that was what they called the Death Rattle. She asked a nurse and the nurse concurred that it was. (I've always liked that word, concurred.... I wish other would do it instead of fighting about little stuff, but that is neither here or there. )
I got use to the sound after a while. It was very rhythmical. There was no shallow breaths, just several labored breaths one after another. They had hooked her up to oxygen again. Donnie thought it was a form of life support but I felt it was something for comfort and the nurses concurred. (There's that word again!)
I called Dad at 5:00 and asked when he would be out again. He said he was planning on taking the 2 a.m. watch. I told him he should come out now that Mom would not probably last until then. So he came out and Donnie and I let him have some private words with Mom. He didn't stay long and we went back to the room. Barb finally came at 7:30. So did Aunt Kate. They said that Donnie and I could go get something to eat and that we didn't have to hurry back. So we took off, not knowing that we would never see Mom alive again.
We went to the Gas Station at 150 and County 10 and got something to eat. Donnie got a sandwich in a bag on the Gas Station Side. While he bought that I ran into Mr. Tarocione my 7th grade Language Arts teacher. He told me that his church had Mom on their prayer list and he gave me a hug. I went over to the Subway sandwich store next door and got the daily special of turkey and ham. I asked for what I thought was sweet teriaki sauce, but it wasn't. Anyway I told Donnie we should go see Sherry. I had called her earlier and she said she had left work early because she could not concentrate thinking about Grandma.
We called and told sherry we were on our way. When we got there, Sherry and I hugged. Then I showed her how I have Gotomypc on the computer. I was able to view my entire hard drive from her computer. It is really nice, but it costs 20 bucks a month to have it, but I have a free 30 day trial. We were also able to work with my webaudio plus. We worked extra long on that until finally I decided we should go. We left sherry's and went back to the nursing home. It was about 8:35. When we pulled in the driveway, I saw Dad's Van in the Handicap parking space. I told Donnie, I bet she died because dad would not have came back so soon. Because it was after 8, we had to use the side entrance. Sure enough, as we crossed the dining area, Aunt Barb and Aunt Kate came walking toward us. "She's gone, isn't she?" I asked. Barb shook her head yes as she came towards me. I asked when and Barb said at 8:20. They had come in to turn her on her side and her eyes started rolling back and she eventually stopped breathing. (At least I think that is what Barb said, I was only half listening, I was just concerned that I wasn't there.) I saw dad down the hall at the nurse's station and went down there and gave him a hug.
He grabbed a nurse and we went to the library and started talking. Barb had called Steve. He said he had called but our cell was off. That is why I wanted him to use the nursing home's number because we don't use our phone for incoming calls. Anyway, that is neither here nor there. Dad said we would not wait 2 hours for Steve to see his mother. I will write more on this later. It is 1:33 and I need to get some sleep for tomorrow. I have typed up a partial obituary with a few facts so the process should go quicker. I need to get some pictures made so we can have a nice picture selection. Because of Thanksgiving, I will have a couple extra days to get things arranged nicely. Right now, I am in a calm state of mind. But I could cry at the drop of a hat. I told Donnie that it isn't the fact that she is gone, it is the memories that make me sad. But we lost Audrey 73 days ago when we had to bring her to the nursing home. We found a little spark of the old Audrey at the end of September and the beginning of October. Then we slowly lost her again. Was it the disease or the medicine? We will never know. Probably both. But she had a good life, I am a better person for having her as my mother, and I will miss her.
And by the way, to that nurse's aide who asked..... "Would you like to talk to Audrey?" My answer now would be a resounding YES!!!!
Audrey takes a turn for the worse November 18, 2005
I will fill in the best I can what has happened in the last 5 weeks later. I need to write these thoughts down now while they are fresh in my mind.
Donnie and I drove to Galesburg today to see Dad. They installed the new garage doors on his house yesterday. It really looks nice now. Inside looks so small. He still has a lot of boxes to empty. We went over to the Knoxville house and there is still a lot of stuff to move from there. I was going through the spice cabinet when the phone rang. A lady asked if Dad was there. Thinking it was someone trying to sell something I said, "Not at the moment, can I take a message." She asked who I was and I said his daughter. She said that she was with with hospice and asked if Dad had been out to see Mom today. I told her he had and he knew she wasn't doing well. She said that she had been out there and Mom was not responding to anything. Then I went and got Dad and he came in from the garage to talk to the lady. He told her he understood that Mom was doing bad and they talked a little more and then Dad asked if they would contact him when she was nearing death. They said they would try but sometimes it isn't possible. When Dad got off the phone, he told me what had been said. Although we were in the middle of packing things, I told Dad I would take him to the nursing home and he agreed to go. So Dad, Donnie and I went in my van. As we walked in, Bev Clark was there. She came over to us and told us her mom broke her hip. I told her we were there because Mom is on her death bed. It was almost like I was trying to top her story. Her mother, Irene Bruce, has been through a lot. A day after we took mom in on September 9, Irene was admitted because she had fallen down and had contusions on her face and bruises on her body. She was just up the wing from Mom. On a day that Mom was doing good, she and I went to see Irene because she had been moved to wing 1. Irene was not in her room but Mom's bedspread was. We told the nurse at the station that we were sure it was ours so they stripped it of the bed and gave it back to us. A few days later, Mom wanted some scissors. When I asked her why, she said that her roommate wanted to have matching bedspreads and Mom wanted to cut the bedspread in half. I took it home to Dad's and I bought some scissors at Dollar General for a dollar and cute it in half width wise. A few days later when I visited her, the beds were matching.
Anyway, today when we went to see Mom, she was laying in her bed looking peaceful. I had always thought that people who were dying of lung cancer would be wheezing and coughing, but she was laying there breathing lightly. All we could do was look at her. Dad and Donnie left and I stayed behind. I touched her arm as I left. I also took out my camera and took a picture. Like I said, she looked peaceful.
We went back to the Knoxville house and grabbed a few more things and went back to Galesburg. As we sat there, Dad repeated again that he looks forward to having a bouquet of flowers on the table to make it look like a home. He asked if he wanted him to order pizza. I told him I could get a good frozen pizza at the store. So he gave me a 20 and I decided to go to HyVee where I could get some fresh flowers. I also had a box to mail before 5. It was 4:30 so I went to the post office.
When I went to HyVee, and parked the van, I was walking into the store. Coming toward me was someone and as I looked closer, I could see that it was Jeff Ring. He was a year behind me in school and went to my church. I said, "Jeff?" and he looked and smiled. He was surprised that I recognized him. I told him that I think it was is aunt that bought Dad's apartment house but he said it was his sister. He said that they didn't say the name of the guy they bought it from and he would have known it was Dad if he heard the name. He didn't even know exactly where the place was. I told him about Mom and he gave me his sympathies. He reminded me that his Mom died several years ago and his dad died about 5 years ago. We both agreed it was hard to go through. He said he lived in Woodhull with his wife. I told him it was good to see him and let him go on his way.
When I got inside I went to the floral department. I asked the girls if they had any cheap plastic vases. They said no, the cheapest they had was a small glass vase. I told them I would just use a glass. Then the other customer at the register said, "You don't remember me, do you?" I recognized him as Chad Jennings but I couldn't think of his first name so I was silly and said, "I remember seeing you on January 7, 1981" He said, "Yes, that was a long time ago." I said kiddingly, "Don't you remember?" and he laughed. He asked what Sherry was doing and I told him she was working at Dick Blick answering phones. I also told him about mom. He told me he felt sorry for me. Anyway, after he left, I explained to the girls there that his mom was my roommate in the hospital. That is when I remembered what November 18th was. That was her original due date and she didn't have Chad until January 7th. I started crying because I was so overwhelmed by everything. That is neither here nor there. Finally, when I got in line to pay for the flowers and the pizza, there was a girl in front of me. I looked at her and I said, "Barb" and she looked at me. It was Barbara Ball, Julie Wolfe's step sister. She was the one that ran away from her foster parents the Byerly's when she was in high School. She finally contacted her grandmother a few days later. I asked Linda Wolfe if they ever told the Byerly's that she was O.K. and Linda said, "No, they have so many foster kids going in and out, they wouldn't care." What? These people are caring enough to take in wayward teenage girls and care for them, and one of them runs away under their watch, and Linda "thinks" they don't care? I remember I told Wendell Byerly (who worked at Maytag) that Barb had called her grandma and she was safe. He should at least know that.
So, a lot of memories flooded me in less than a half hour. It was almost too much for my brain to comprehend.
Anyway, I got the pizza home to Dad's and he said he didn't save any pans. I knew I packed them and went looking for them. We finally used the rack out of the toaster oven. The pizza didn't quite get done in the middle but it was still good. After we ate I remembered where the cookie sheets were at.... I had put them away! Oh well.
Dad decided that we would all go to the nursing home again at 6:30. When we got there my cousins Cindy and Cheryl Chism were at the front desk with their aunt Beth. I talked to them about mom. Beth reminded me about the 3 good weeks we had with mom, and we did. When I got to wing 3, Mom's roommate was sitting out by the nurse's station. I stopped and talked to her again. She feels really bad about Mom. She wanted me to tell her that she loved her and she was praying for her. I told her that even when Mom is gone, I would still come and visit her. I have met a lot of nice people at the nursing home. I will be back for sure. Dad and Donnie had already gone down to Mom's room. They were just sitting there. Mom looked exactly the same as when we saw her earlier. We didn't stay long and we took Dad back to Galesburg. I cleaned out some things from his refrigerator then Donnie and I left. It was about 7:30. We got home at 8:20. I called Dad to let him know that we made it home. Then, I talked to Sherry on the phone for a few minutes. I tried a new game of www.pogo.com called Quick Quack. It plays like Uno. You "shoot" carnival ducks that either have the same number or same suit. It is addictive. But I had more important things to do. I started writing an obituary for Mom so we don't forget anything to say. Then it came to the part about kids and grandkids. I emailed my brother to see if we should include our step kids and grand kids. Either way is ok by me. I need to get some pictures put together. Donnie and I are getting our clothes ready to take to Dad's on Sunday. We are planning on spending the night on Sunday. Then we will play it by ear. Who knows when Mom will pass? She is not receiving any kind of food or liquid so it should be soon because she really hasn't ate much in the past few weeks. I must say here that Monday night when we went to see her at supper time, she was in the room with people that needed to be helped fed. In front of here was a Ham Sandwich, Corn Curls, and I think it was corn. There was also Chocolate pudding and orange juice and apple juice. They knew she has not been eating. Were they really expecting her to eat a ham sandwich??? All in all, the care has been good. They are just people.
The yard sale, the pearl street house, other stuff
On Saturday, October 8th, Donnie and I drove down at 6:00 am to help Sherry get ready for our yard sale. I always get anxious about yard sales because I can't organize myself to make them look like the sales I go to. Sherry had priced some things but mostly we were just going to have people ask us for a price. There were a couple hispanic males that bought my old karaoke machine, and a record player. I asked if they wanted an amplifier so I went to the front garage and dug out my old peavey 100 I bought when I sang with the Country Revolution back in 1977. I sold it to them for $10. They were our best customers. I stood out front with all my old records on the tailgate of Daniel's truck. The more I looked at them, the more I decided I could get rid of 80 % of them. It hurt, but I had to do it. After the sale there were several books we did not sale. I only saved 10 of them. I am letting the rest of them go also. We were all tired. I had had only 4 hours of sleep. Sherry had had even less. We just wanted a chance to sell our junk before we gave it away. It was a bad day to have it because it was the second week of scenic drive. But we were running out of time. Dad wanted Sherry to move out on October 15th. Sherry works all weekends so we asked Dad if she could stay until the 19th and he said yes but he was calling the Carpet man to come and pull up the carpet on the 20th. Dad is very anxious about all of this, but I really can't blame him. I forgot to make mention that he turned 80 on the 3rd. The announcement was in the newspaper on Friday. This is what it said:
W. Harold Perry Friday, October 7, 2005
KNOXVILLE - W. Harold Perry, 102 S. Park St., observed his 80th birthday Monday.He was born Oct. 3, 1925, in Hardin County, Ky.
He married Audrey Marie Johnson on Feb. 6, 1949, in Grace Lutheran Church of Knoxville.
He is the father of Steven H. (and Roxann) Perry, Cypress, Texas; and Cynthia (and Donald) Anderson, Bettendorf, Iowa. He has four grandchildren.
He served on the USS Manila Bay in World War II, and returned home and received his high school diploma in 1946. He moved to Illinois on March 8, 1948, and met his wife of 56 years by chance at a dance that year on his birthday. He worked on a farm outside of Knoxville for a few years, then worked at Brown Specialty and Admiral's before he became a salesman for Sears in 1959. He left Sears in 1980 and went on to work as a maintenance man in the Knoxville School system. He retired in 1986, and has spent much of his retirement years playing golf.
My brother, Steve, has been helping Dad do little projects. They had stored a bunch of wood in the back garage so Steve can build Dad a workbench in the garage. I also haven't mentioned that Bob Coffey and his crew started putting a roof and siding on the house on October 4. Luckily, they did not leave a mess when we had our Yard Sale Saturday. We were worried we were going to clash. They were going to store the siding in the garage, but they decided to store it behind the house instead. They have the roof on now and all the siding on except for the front. A tree trimmer guy came on Tuesday and trimmed the tree out front. We wanted it cut down but they said it was a healthy tree. Life is going to be different in just one week. The phone number I have had since 1976 will be retired.(unless Dad takes it over). Dad's phone number he has had since 1980 will be retired. He will be moving out of Mom's home. She will never be there again. That is the sad thing. I wish there was a chance she could go through her stuff one more time. She seems well enough now. I might bring this up to Dad. Jake is coming for supper tomorrow night. I asked him if he wanted hamburger and fries or spaghetti and he said he wanted cheeseburger Macaroni. So that is what we are having.
Audrey joins the Red Hat Society
On Monday, October 3rd, Donnie and I came to Knoxville to see Dad and to take Mom to her Red Hat Society meeting. My brother, Steve, and his wife went around on the weekend and bought mom some red shoes with purple hats on them and they also bought her a white bear with a purple boa and red hat that played the song, Girl's just wanna have fun. They also bought her a bracelet that has red hats on it. Steve was very anxious about me taking Mom to the meeting. He called up Sunday and asked what time I would be there. I said I would be there at 1 p.m. to take her to the 2 p.m. I ended up being there at 12:30. She was already dressed and waiting in the front room of the nursing home. I went back to her room to get the bear and when I came back I found out the meeting was in the garden room. When I went in there, there were several other women. The regular leader wasn't there but another lady led the meeting. She had brought some silky purple and gold pajamas, a bag full of unclaimed clothes from laundry, a premade straw paper pumpkin which had a red hat on it and a wheel chair. She had the ladies roll the clothes up in a "jelly roll" to fit in the arms and legs and slowly but surely, a scarecrow was made out of the pajamas and the head. There was one lady there that was partially paralyzed. She kept saying she wanted to do something and one of the ladies said, "You can't do anything Nancy (Gustine), you can't use your hands." Well I went over to Nancy and I rolled some clothes over her hands while standing behind her. She seemed to enjoy participating in some way. Mom sat there untangling some beads to put on the scarecrow. She made herself at home. I wanted to thank you for sending the clothes to Mom. We received them yesterday and last night she was wearing the pant suit when we played dominoes. Barb Perry, Ramona Stickell, Menona Moorehead, Donnie, Mom and I all played. It almost made me cry to be able to play a game again with Mom. Especially after how bad she was just a month ago. I hope you were able to view the photobucket pictures. If not, let me know and I can send regular pictures.
I had so much fun at the Red Hat Society Party. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in years. My 5th grade teacher, Dorothy Larson was there. For roll call they asked everyone their name and asked if they could remember a special halloween costume they wore when they were a kid. Most could not think of anything special. When they got to Mrs. Larson, she didn't remember any special outfit. I had to tell everyone she was my 5th grade teacher and I remembered what I wore for halloween when I was in her class. I dressed up in a box as a color TV set. It was back when RCA Victor came out with their jingle about Wow! we've got color TV.... in our home there's color now. It was one of my favorite outfits for sure.
I really enjoyed myself. Violet Wadham Hudson was the secretary. Her husband used to work with dad at Sears. After he died, she ended up marrying Aunt Barb Perry's brother, Bob. He has died also. Anyway, for roll call they asked people if they could remember a special outfit they dressed up for at halloween. Most could not remember anything special. When it came Mom's time to speak, she had me show the bear to everyone around the room. After that My 5th grade teacher, Dorothy Larson was introduced. She didn't remember any special outfit. I had to tell everyone she was my 5th grade teacher and I remembered what I wore for halloween when I was in her class. I dressed up in a box as a color TV set. It was back when RCA Victor came out with their jingle about Wow! we've got color TV.... in our home there's color now. It was one of my favorite outfits for sure.
Later they served ice cream and I went around delivering napkins. I was picking up on people's names as I went around. They decided to have a door prize drawing so the leader asked me to write down everyone's names to put in a hat while she went to get Mom and another lady (Cynthia) their red hats. I told the ladies I felt like I was on Romper Room. I was able to go around the room and name each person. " I see Shirley and Sharon and Martha and Cynthia...." The winner of the doorprize drawing was Violet. Then the leader came over to Mom and presented her with her choice of 3 red hats. Someone had bought several of them when they were on sale at Walmart one day. How nice of them to do that! Soon the meeting was over and I rolled mom back to her room. She was tired and decided to get ready for bed even though it was only 4 p.m. Donnie had waited outside during all of this. We went back to dad's for a while. Earlier Dad had told us that we were invited to go play the marble game with Mom and Barb at 6:30. When we called her at 5:30 she said she was already heading out there. She asked if we could bring the dominoes out. When we got there, Ramona and Menona were playing the marble game. I went to look up the pictures of the red hat meeting I had put on photobucket earlier. Their computers are a little slow. I bearly found the pictures before we had to start playing dominoes. I did get to show barb some pictures.
Anyway, all 6 of us played dominoes. I lost big time. I would jokingly whine when Mom would play a tile right before I could play it. Ramona took my whining seriously. But that was O.K. It was fun to be playing dominoes again with mom. She did very well with her plays and counting up her tiles. Of course, she always had low scores and didn't have to count too high. She ended up winning.
We went back to dad's and spent the night. Donnie and I went to see Mom in the Morning. She didn't look as well as she did the night before, but she was still with it. We took her out by the animals. We sat out there for a while and then came back in. We didn't stay much longer. We decided we would leave before noon. It was a good trip. Gas is fluctuating now between $2.99 and $2.79. Our favorite gas station on river drive going out of town has closed. I am filling in from the 13th. I will write more later.
Audrey is still doing good
I drove down from Bettendorf Thursday morning at 9:30. My childhood friend, Merry Fishel (Simpson, Frazier, Marvel, Perkins) was here from Alabama to attend the visitation and funeral of her father, Hod (Harold) Fishel. Her mother passed away in January of 2000. I remember my mom and I went to see her at the hospital after Merry's sister, Sherry, told us their mom was ill. I will always remember looking into the hospital room and seeing their mom Shirley sleeping on the bed. I just the her from the back. Her hair was thinning and she looked so frail. I did not want to go in, but Mom did. She didn't try to wake her. She agreed that she didn't look well. Shirley died soon after our visit.
Anyway, I stopped by Flowers by Suzanne on S0uth Seminary Street and I chose a planter to take to the Funeral Home. Because of the price of gas, it costs $4.00 to deliver the plant. I told her I was going to knoxville anyway so I would deliver it. When I got to the funeral home, I thought the door was locked so I left the planter outside the door. I then went to the resale shop at the Presbyterian Church at the corner of Main and Market. Then I went to Dad's. It was 11:00. I sat and talked to him for a couple hours then I went back up to the nursing home to Hod Fishel's Visitation. Merry was there with her 2 girls, her son, husband and grandchildren. Sherry was standing by their dad's casket also. She talked to me more than Merry did. I told Merry that I would call her sometime in the next week. I left there and went out to the Nursing Home to see Mom. She was in her room over by the window. She was looking at the JC Penney's Catalog that Dad had given her. He wants her to choose a new outfit to wear. She was looking for undershirts and pajamas for Dad. She had written out the order and asked me to call it in. She told me she wants to call her sister, Marge, in Arizona. My phone was not fully charged. She said she is waiting for Steve to come and she will use his phone.
Steve and Roxie did come the next day and mom got to use Steve's phone to call Marge.
