Aunt Helen

Aunt Helen passed away over the weekend.
She'd made it all the way up to 89 years and 9 days old.
I attended her funeral today, where I was suprised and delighted, to see her older sister, my Aunt Freda! Her daughter Janice as well!
Appearently Janice thought it was important for her mother to attend and put up enough of a fuss for Roger (the son/brother - not living in a care facility) to okay everything with nurses and such, load up their considerable gear, wheelchairs, walkers and whatnot (Whew! How well, I know what that's like. Roger and his wife said something to me about trouble getting all to fit in the trunk of their car. =) That was a determining factor which actually crossed my mind when I bought the car I'm driving now. Before Caddy I was into bungie cords - but I digress...)
Uncle Jim, the one I mentioned a couple of months ago, was there, and so was a cousin, Dorothy, who rounded out the attendees from that generation of relatives - the 90 and older club. Aunt Doris couldn't make it back from MI. Her long term love interest, Chuck, is battling a brain tumor.
Aunt Helen made quite an impression on me in my youth. I may not have known her as well as some of the other cousins who've lived here continually. However, I remember that red hair and wide open spirit! She was known for a quick wit and smile to ride along with it, always with the light of intelligence and good humor twinkling in her eyes. She used to send me birthday cards. In the mail! When I was a wee tot! YOU know how special mail to a young child is. Children never ever get a letter or card just for them. But I did. From my Aunt Helen. I think that thoughtful act on her part may have started me off on my own fancy for dispatching cards by mail from time to time.
Aunt Helen was always lean and active. I've heard it said that no one could out pick her in a tomato patch. Absolutely no one!
She worked for a number of years in the circulation department of the local paper, the McCook Daily Gazette, they too, appreciated her quickness and dedicated work ethic.
Parkinsons and the advancing years exacted a heavy toll on Aunt Helen these last few years. Her hearing and recollections of faces to names faded along with her once hearty laughter. However, She maintained a smile that could light up a room!
I wish I could have stayed with my family and heard the stories they all had to tell...
*sighs*
I was required at my semester finals - immediately following the church services.
(That was tough! But I know Helen would want me to continue, going and doing good in my life, ... after all, that's what she did with her's.)
Peace and God's speed to your soul, dear Helen!