My Dad's Mom

 If you made it through the last post I am sorry for depressing you. 

Dad's Mom is much more fun.  She grew up in Alabama until she was about 8. Her Dad developed TB so the doctors said he would do better in a desert environment so off they went. She was happy growing up in the town and met and married a very nice man with some Native blood (at least) which is one reason I always tan in the sun. 

He was in sales I believe, they had my Dad. Then Pearl Harbor.  He enlisted, kissed my 2 month old Dad goodbye likely thinking he didn't want him growing up to speak Japanese, and didn't see his family for years. 

He and my grandmother were happily married until his death. He had migraines (!) and had a heart attack.  Doctors put him on blood thinners but did not calculate the dose.  He had a massive brain bleed. My grandmother wanted to let him go but the neurosurgeon talked her into consenting to brain surgery. He died anyway. 

So both my grandmothers widowed at a young age, neither remarried. My grandmother had 2 boys and a girl. My Dad served during Vietnam but not in country; my uncle did. 

You all know my aunt. So all the kids turned out well.  Notable fact: my uncle and his wife made it a point to adopt older kids who had been through awful traumas and most of them have turned out very well.   There are several of these kids I am not in contact. His wife my aunt is a rabid liberal and recently disowned  one of the girls for "coming out" conservative. 

Grandma had a very full life with friends (bridge group), church, etc.  She was the church librarian and a Presbyterian.  My mother was Episcopalian but my Dad "won" the debate on how I would be raised. I saw her frequently and she always made me feel like I was her favorite. 

She told me once to always have career training as anything could happen and I might need to make a living for myself.  She was trained as a librarian so she could go back to that after she lost her husband.  They didn't have a lot of money but from what Dad and my aunt said they had enough. 

She was in really good health except for some arthritis and some back issues, kept a good weight for most of it (the steroids really did a number on her).  She died of complications after back surgery.  She was a DNR but they ran a code anyway my aunt was not happy about that. 

That's it!