My Ma

My mother, as my youngest son Casey said was probably the strongest person who ever walked the face of the earth. She survived two husbands, raised 5 kids and had 3 more die almost at childbirth. She survived T.B. when everyone on her ward died of the disease. She always attributed her survival to not listening to the Dr. who told her to lay still in her bed for 6 months. When he left the room she crawled around and around her bed 20 or 30 times all day long till he came the next day. She had a hole in her lung the size of a pear from the T.B. but she survived. She went on to live another 50 years after her stay in the T.B. ward. Outlived the Dr. by a longshot.

Mom when she was in the T.B. Ward circa 1940’s

My mother was a tribute to faith in God and stubbornness. She always believed the best in people and loved her family with all her heart. She survived osteoporosis with so many broken down vertebrae’s that her back was one big wave. The Dr. who X-rayed her the last time said there were so many broken ones he couldn’t count. She scolded him and said she didn’t need to hear that. She was so tough when it broke, she just laid down on the couch a couple of days and then got up and started moving again without pills. She said if you laid too long you would die, so you needed to move.

This is a picture of her on her 93rd birthday on January 17th, 2002. She wanted to go to the farm one last time. Rest in Peace Mom, you sure as hell deserve it.