Reclaimed Memories

anuary 12th Troy had a very severe attack of angina and I called Marion. I thought he was having a heart attack and we took him to the hospital in Cocoa and he was admitted for observation. They were able to relieve him, but kept him for observation until the 16th. He came home with nitroglycerin tablets for angina pain.

An entry on January 28th says, "Hilda came home." No explanation but I think she had been in the hospital. In February my nephew, Jack Mills and his wife, Loraine, paid a visit but they were more Marion's guests than ours.

We visited friends in both Winter Park and Bradenton, as we did every year through the eighties. We always planned our trip to Winter Park so we could be there for a carry-in Sunday School class dinner on Saturday night and we would stay with friends over night and attend services on Sunday. For years at these events I would be the entertainer and Troy would have a short devotional period.

Ruby called on March 17th and asked how soon we were coming home. I told her in two or three weeks. She asked if we could come over soon after we got home. I knew that something was wrong. With further conversation I learned that she was so worried about her daughter, who had some mental and emotional problems. She said, 'You can do so much more to help Lonald than I have ever been able to do." I told her that we would come right away and stay until Troy had to start the garden. Her voice sounded so grateful when she said "Would you do that for me?" When assured that we would start the next day she said, "You're the best sister in all the world!"

We spent two nights on the way; one with Harrises and the next with Zylpha. It was snowing when we reached the Perdues. We got to Elizabeth on Saturday the 21st. Lonald was there and I could see that she was on the verge of a breakdown. She was the first grandchild in our family. I was less than fourteen years old at the time of her birth and thought she was the cutest, smartest baby that ever lived! I have always thought a lot of her.

At this time she was manager of a subsidized housing complex in Ravenswood, West Virginia. The responsibility was about to get the best of her. Her office was closed on Saturdays and Sundays and she usually came to her mother's place in Elizabeth, to be free of the strain. She was always so meticulous in her appearance, but now she looked drab and careworn. She always kept her hair dyed, but the gray was plainly showing at the roots.

An hour or so after we arrived she put on her coat and was ready to leave, saying that she was going back to Ravenswood. Ruby said to her, "Lonald, if you go back over there now you are going to lose that good job." She said "Well, why?" Ruby said "Go look in a mirror." I got up, took her arm and said "Lonald let's go to your bedroom and talk." I cannot remember much of what I said to her, but we talked for about two hours. I said "You do your hair and get a good night's sleep and tomorrow I will go with you back to your apartment." She decided to do that, then pulled off a diamond ring and handed it to me. I asked why she was handing me her ring and she said "I want you to have it." I replied "No. You put your ring back on your finger; get cleaned up and your hair done and go to bed."

The next morning Lonald was some better and we drove to her place. I stayed with her until the problems which had caused her so much concern had somewhat smoothed out. On the way to Singers Glen, March 30th, we heard that President Reagan had been shot. It was gardening time when we arrived home, after visiting friends on the way.

Less than two months later Ruby's step-son phoned from the hospital in Parkersburg that she had just died of a heart attack. Lonald, John and John, Jr., were at the hospital. She was stricken two hours earlier at her home. She fell in the bathroom and told them to call the ambulance. She said "I think I am going to die." She was laid to rest in the beautiful pink gown she had just bought for her installation as Grand Matron of the Eastern Star Lodge in Elizabeth. (Died 5-25-1981) Ruth came from California and all the other living siblings were there.

We returned to Florida in the fall and were happy to see that the work on Marion and Joy home had progressed nicely.

Troy was ill along the first part of December and after examination by a heart specialist he entered Florida Hospital in Orlando for heart bypass surgery on December 14th. Three arteries were replaced on the 18th. His sister, Rosalyn, died the next day in a hospital in Elkins. She knew before her death that he had come through the operation, but I did not tell him that she was gone until after he came home.

The Brady Trilogy  I  Reclaimed Memories - (1991)  I  Pop Troy's Anthology - ( 1992)  I  Kinfolk - (1994)