Friday, August 12, 2005

Goodbye Aunt Martha Louise

My Mom's sister Martha Louise was buried today. That feels really final to write that. We've known since last fall that she had a fatal illness -- Myelodysplasia, but she fought it a lot longer than any of us expected. It turned into acute leukemia, though, and her body couldn't fight any longer.

An obituary is an odd thing. It distills a life into a dry paragraphs, that don't really say much about the person. No mention of the sweater she knit for me when I was in high school (it was of bulky yarn, royal blue wool with red and white accents -- a ski sweater which was great while skiing!) I think she knit Annette one too that year, but I don't remember for certain. No mention of how she loved to have people stop by the house and spend the night/weekend/whatever. No mention of how she loved to shop. Or eat out, many places which recognized her by name.

I knew she and my uncle had students stay in their home because they loved to have people around, but the fact that 30 of them from around the world stayed over the years is amazing! Two of their sons found their wives from this group!

Memories of them going to San Francisco when we were in Marin County -- Mom and Martha shopping (Macys!)then watching Godspell with us in live theater.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep, she knitted me one too. Sage green and apricot. I outgrew it almost immediately.

Anonymous said...

She knitted me one too. Sage green and apricot. I outgrew it immediately.

Anonymous said...

My aunt Debbie was diagnosed and died from severe liver cancer within a period of just a couple months. I still have the slippers she knitted me stored in a ziploc bag upstairs. They were the last things she finished before she died.

I grieve for you, and your family.