Page 69

cruciating. It was several days before I could straighten up
completely.
My mother died in October 1941. She had suffered for many
years from asthma but her heart finally gave out. She was a
wonderful woman whose family and church were most important to
her. When we were children we always ran to her for comfort when
we were hurt, and after putting medication on our injury would
always dry our tears and comfort us. She was the one who punished
us too when we needed it, my father was always too harsh she felt.
She enjoyed living on our five acre truck farm and feeding and
caring for the animals, in fact she didn't want to move back to town
when the farm was sold, but she suffered for many years from asthma,
and walked the floor many nights unable to get relief. All the
medicine prescribed for her would only work for awhile and then
wouldn't help any more.
The last year she lived she was sent to the Wisconsin General
Hospital and they tried every possible test to determine what was
causing her asthma but couldn't come up with any solution. Grace
and I went to see her several times a week. She was in a room
with no visitors allowed except immediate family and she kept
begging to go home. Her doctor finally said we might as well take
her home because there was nothing more they could do. We took her
back to Appleton and the trip was very hard on her. She had been
a heavy woman but she was down to eighty pounds when we drove her
home. We took her to Florence's house so she could take care of
her, and Florence put her to bed. Grace and I stayed there that
night and in the morning I went in to see her and tell her we had
to get back to Mt. Horeb. She said she had slept well and we should
go home, and the next time we came she would have some of my
favorite dishes prepared for me.
I kissed her goodbye and we drove back to Mt. Horeb, but we
had just gotten in the door when the phone rang and my sister was
on the line to tell me our mother had left us, her heart finally
had failed.
-69-