She was 84 years old. This year, she would have been 92 years old.
I realized soon afterward that my sister and I were now the oldest living generation of our family.
Having lost both of our parents, we were now orphans.
My Mom was 19 years old when this pic was taken.
She was an only child. Her father had wanted a boy to name after himself. He still named her after himself, naming her Pauline since his name was Paul.She then met the love of her life, my Dad, Frank.
What a handsome couple they made.....
They were married in 1942 on June 6th.
Shortly after they moved to Spartansburg, S.C. to so my Dad could be trained to be deployed in World War II. My Mom lived off the base.
He would be gone overseas for nearly 5 years. She lived with her parents until he returned.They built a home next door to her parents and then they had their first child, my sister Barbara , in 1947.
My Mom was told that she would not be able to have any more children.
In Jan., 1958, over 10 years later, she gave birth to a second daughter...... Debbie.
This is my Mom and me in 1960. She was 41 years old in this picture.
My Dad and my Mom did everything together.Picture was taken in 1974.....
They built another home in 1962 and they would live there until 1987.Mom, with a rose given to her by my Dad from their garden, and my childhood dog, Ginger.
They had 6 grand children and another that my Dad would never see as my sister was pregnant when my Dad passed away in 1987.Mom on the Santa Express with my Jimmy and Joey in 1986.
On Feb. 26, 1987, My Sister and I would find my Dad dead. He was retired but my Mom was still working in a Dress Factory in the mornings. He was 67 years old. I did the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life that morning.....go to where my Mom worked and tell her that her Frankie was gone.....She would never be the same.
She sold their dream home 3 months later and moved into a Senior Citizen Apartment. She could not bear to live in that house without him.
She went on with life and enjoyed her grandchildren.
But there was a sadness in her eyes that never went away.
Mom and my Joey and Jimmy at the airport when we were waiting for our flight to Disney World.
She would see grandchildren graduate high school, college, marry and have children of their own....Mom and my Jimmy at his High School graduation in 2002
She enjoyed her family and the friends that she had made while living in her apartment but something was missing from her life.
In Feb. of 2004 , when she entered the hospital with pancreatitis and sepsis, I knew she would never return to her apartment.
She lived for another 8 weeks during which my sister and I visited the hospital twice a day and watched her die a little bit every day.
Finally, on March 26, 2004 , we were able to move her from the hospital to an Inpatient Hospice unit. She had been in a coma since Sat., March 27. On March 28, I was the last one visiting but before I left her, I told her it was okay to go, that Barbara and I would be okay and that it was finally time to return to my Dad's side, where she so desperately wanted to be for the 17 years that she had lived without him. When I whispered this to her, she opened her eyes and looked at me one last time. I knew she had heard and understood me.
I left her at 11 pm , went out and sat in the car in the parking lot, called my sister and told her what I had said and that Mom had opened her eyes and I believed that she understood me.
At 1 am, 2 hours later , on March 29, 2004, I received the call that my Mom had passed away quietly in her sleep. Peacefully, pain free and with the utmost dignity.
She was finally with the only man she ever loved........her Frankie.
The last picture taken of my Mom in Feb. 2004
It is fitting that , in this last photo of her, she is wearing the necklace that my Dad gave her as a wedding gift.I know that they are both watching over my family and my sister's until the day when we will be together again.
Thanks for visiting me today.
Hugs,
Debbie
