Replies

Well, you are right, my dad would do anything for aunt Helen...when my brother and I were in college, and tuition payments for my parents were difficult, and money was really scarce, a terrible thing happened to aunt Helen...

Her husband disappeared and they could not find him...he had not been physically well and had to take a medical leave of absence from his job...then his mind started to get worse, and grammie and Helen began to be afraid that he was having a mental breakdown...

Then he disappeared...they scoured all over on their small ranch and could not find him...finally they brought a work honor crew in from some local prison, and they found him, in a shallow grave that he had apparently dug beforehand, and he shot himself and fell into the grave....

Aunt Helen called my dad in Chicago, told him what happened, but told my dad not to come out to California, as it would be so expensive for him to do so,(plane fare, time off from work, etc)...Helens older boy was in India, in the Peace Corps, and she refused to inform him of what had happened, because she did not want him to interrupt his Peace Corps obligations, and there was nothing he could do...

Helen also had two other teenagers at home to cope with...but she made my dad promise not to come out for the funeral, she would manage on her own...my dad promised, and finished talking to her...

Then, I remember it so well, dad could not get up from his chair...he just sat there, mulling things over...then he told us he was going to Cal, for aunt Helen, no matter the cost...he called her back, and said he had to go back on his promise, he was coming out there...

Thank goodness he did go out there..Helen was a wreck, her older son was in India, and the two teenagers at home were devastated...my dad was like a rock, and took over the arrangements, and gave great comfort to Helen and her two children...The son in India, continued on with his Peace Corps time, never knowing what happened to his dad, until he returned to USA...he was at first mad at my aunt for not telling him right away, but he grew to understand why she did it that way....

Many, many years later, when my dad was sick and dying from cancer, my cousin Steven, who was one of the two teenagers at home with Helen when their dad died, lived about 10 miles from my parents...and he used to come down almost every single day, and sit with my dad for a few hours a day, giving me and Helen a break from caring for him and my mom....

Steven told me, it was the very least he could do, as my dad had done so much for him, when his own dad died, and my dad went to personal financial strain to be able to help Helen and her kids when they needed it....

Family love, is the greatest there is...