I knew it had been awhile since I sat down to do this, but hadn't realized it had been 2 full weeks. Must say that I haven't really been in the mood this past week; dealing with Peggy's death has not been easy. I think Stan & I were both a little surprised at how hard it hit us--we really hadn't expected to be faced with it at this time even though we knew it was a possibility.

Yesterday (Sunday, May 24) after church we went to the cemeteries. First to Sumner to visit Grandma and Pop's grave, with a quick little side visit to Shelby's (in case you didn't know, she was Jackie's mom & my very good friend); from there to National Cemetery in Maple Valley for Anna May and Steve's; finally to W. Seattle for Stan's parents in Forest Lawn. Whenever we go to Forest Lawn, it seems that we always have to turn on one or 2 extra streets before we finally remember that we need to turn on Morgan. I said we're just going to have to think of Captain Morgan, so we can remember. Since neither of us drinks, it's the vicious pirate, Morgan. I wonder if anyone will visit any of them after we're gone.

When I'm in Walla Walla next weekend, I plan to go to Grandma & Grandpa Kelly's graves in the WW cemetery; haven't visited them in a long time; but I know my cousin Dorothy Ellen does. Also next time I'm in Olympia on a sunny day, will stop at Capitol Campus and go to the WWll veterans' memorial and get a picture of my Uncle Jim's "brick" & "leaf."

Speaking of Jim, my earliest memory wasn't of him as I had previously written, as the invasion of Sicily was in 1943 not 1941.

My mother almost always said Decoration Day instead of Memorial Day as  the day was originally set aside to honor veterans, especially those who had died to protect our freedoms and people decorated their graves. As with many of our holidays, it has now been changed to a Monday, so people have a 3-day weekend and stores can have sales.

I don't want to get morbid, but I think it is important that the family knows how their ancestors died. I know that Great-Grandma Stobie died of heart failure as did Grandma French, 80; Grandma Jeanne, 84; and Anna May, 89. Anna May was treated for heart failure for a long time and in her final months it was discovered that she had lung cancer, which the attending physician blamed on her smoking even though it had been at least 40 years since she smoked! We believe that it was probably caused by working close to an asbestos cutting machine at the shipyards during WWll. Even at that we didn't contact the attorneys that advertise on tv to get settlements for those who suffer and/or die from mesothelioma--over 90% of those folks are at least 80 & have lived a longer life than would have been predicted at their births. 

Pop was 76 when he died and he had a heart attack which was probably related to his diabetes. My dad was 89 when he died and his body had basically worn out even though the actual cause of death was something like an esophageal tear. Shortly before he died we found that the cause of the dementia he suffered was a series of strokes in the center of his brain, so they affected his memory, but not his speech or gait.

In the fall of 1965 or 1966, Grandma French was making some blackberry jam for us; she ended up in the hospital for several days because she fainted from the heat and hit the handle of the pan as she fell. Unfortunately the hot syrup beat her to the floor and severely burned her leg and hip. 

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I had only seen Grandma French angry once, but I remember now that I did hear her when she was a little peeved on one occasion. They had moved out to the farm by Sumner after we moved to Illinois and one day replaced the roof. She got so much tar on her pants they stuck to her and she had a hard time getting them off. She got tired of us calling her "tarpants." Can't imagine why;<)

One time when we were staying with them in Montana, I remember that she wanted "chicken" for dinner, so she took her trusty 22, went a little ways from the cabin and shot a couple of grouse. That probably was not the only time she did that, but I'm sure would get a ticket in this day and age.

Seems I recall hearing a story of Dyke, Herb & Juanita's oldest child, telling during show and tell how many deer or elk his dad had shot; can't remember how many but it's a good thing his teacher knew his parents, because it was a few more than the legal limit.

Must mention how proud I am of Jessica & Philip. Jessica was all-conference runner up utility player which is especially good considering her softball team never won a single game! Her team was, however, AA Oregon State basketball champions! She was also Girl of the Year at Santiam High School. Even though Philip will be junior next September, he will be student body president! He also won an ipod for an art project.--haven't heard what his project was but I'm sure we'll find out when we go down for Jessica's baccalaureate and graduation later this week.

I don't know what time it will show a "post time" for this, but it 9:33--see it takes me a while to gather pix, thoughts, etc.