Mom Passed Away - 05-22-08

Mom passed away from complications brought on by colon cancer. She was doing well and only began having difficulties about 2 weeks before she died. The whole family was notified and those that could fly out to Arizona, did so, in order to at least visit one more time before she departed.

Here is my Father, my Mother and her brother Frank (Uncle Frank) sitting at the table. We were called to quickly come out, as she was in very bad shape. Yet when we arrived, she suddenly perked up, was very talkative and could even sit up on her own. It was great to see her in such good spirits.

Even Uncle Frank seemed to be doing pretty well...

The next 2 pictures were taken during a nurse-consultation from Hospice Care. As you can see, Mom seemed to be in fairly good shape, all things considered (smile, little "Linny").

This is my brother Jody and my sister Treesie (pronounced like; Tracey). They had been very busy and took over the job of overseeing Mom and her needs during her last few days. Unfortunately, I felt more like a 'fifth wheel' around them, so I stayed out of their way. Like I was told, that's the cost of not getting there first.

As you can see, she was doing well enough to stand on her own as she talks to friends and family on the phone.

Uncle Jimmy showed up (left side, behind Jody's hand) and we shared a few jokes to lighten up the atmosphere.

This picture was taken a day or two later, and Mom sure loves her popsicles! She's looking through a picture-scrapbook that Luann's mother had given her.

Later on in the day, she wanted to visit with us as we were outside, so she was wheeled over and hung around outside with us for about an hour. Dad was goofing off and 'making funnies', as she watched him with feigned disdain. You can see that she is quickly becoming thinner as each day goes by.

When she slept during the day, Jody & Treesie took turns napping with her so she would feel comfortable and could doze off.

And later on, Dad would take over the night watch.

Not much longer after these pictures were taken, Mom slipped away in her sleep. She was discovered to have passed on by Jody at about 5:30 AM on May 22nd, 2008

One of her wishes was that we have a wake for her after she died, rather than a memorial service. Jody decided to call it a Fun-morial. The next post will explain the Fun-morial event in better detail.