NordP
Posted on 08/22/2003 9:00:56 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Obituary backs 'removal of Bush' Woman 'thought he was a liar' By Lee Sensenbrenner August 21, 2003
When Sally Baron's family wrote her obituary, they described a northern Wisconsin woman who raised six children and took care of her husband after he was crushed in a mining accident.
She had moved to Stoughton seven years ago to be closer to her children and was 71 when she died Monday after struggling to recuperate from heart surgery. Her family had come to the question of what might be a fitting tribute to her.
"My uncle asked if there was a cause," her youngest son, Pete Baron, said.
Almost in unison, what her children decided to include in the obituary was this: "Memorials in her honor can be made to any organization working for the removal of President Bush."
"She thought he was a liar," Baron's daughter, Maureen Bettilyon, said. "I think his personality, just standing there with that smirk on his face, and acting like he's this holy Christian, that's what really got her."
Bettilyon, who lives in Stoughton, said her mother didn't trifle with petty neighborhood squabbles but was attuned to significant policy-making at all levels.
"She'd always watch CNN, C-SPAN, and you know, she'd just swear at the TV and say 'Oh, Bush, he's such a whistle ass!' She'd just get so mad," Bettilyon said.
Sally Baron was born in Hurley, Wis., and spent nearly her entire life in the timber and mining country of Iron County. She worked as a factory assembly worker, a waitress, a cook and a dietician, while her husband, James "Slugger" Baron, worked deep in the iron mines.
Following a promotion, Slugger worked briefly above ground on mining machinery but in 1969 was crushed under two tons of equipment. His back and all his ribs were broken and a leg was snapped at the shin.
"We went to school and they told us our dad was dead because the accident was so bad," Bettilyon said.
Sally rushed to the scene and demanded that he be treated locally by a doctor she believed in rather than risk transporting him more than 100 miles to specialists in Duluth.
Bettilyon said the decision saved her father's life and put him in the hands of a "really old-fashioned kind of common-sense doctor."
Slugger convalesced and returned to work in carpentry, then was elected the mayor of Montreal, Wis., a post he held for over 20 years, nearly until his death seven years ago. His accomplishments included sinking new municipal water wells and establishing one of the first sewage treatment plants in the area.
Meanwhile, their children grew up. Their oldest son, Jeff, died as a college student at age 21 of leukemia. Another son joined the Navy and the rest of the children graduated from Wisconsin universities.
"She was the den mother. She was the 4-H leader. She is the lady that taught all of us how to swim, how to play softball, how to camp," said her son, Joe Baron, who owns a plumbing business in Prairie du Sac.
"Montreal isn't a big city, but it's not that small, either. It was about 850 people. And my friends used to joke that when my mom goes to the front door - when I was a kid, this is - and yells out 'Jeff, Jim, Joe!' there was no place in Montreal that she couldn't be heard.
"And it meant one of three things: It was either time to eat, it was time to do a chore, or it was time to get in a lineup to find out who did this atrocity that she perceived. Then the fury of Genghis Khan would come out."
Joe Baron said that the day his mother died he spent a lot of time waiting in the lobby, and so he sat and looked at the paper.
"I noticed that 776 years earlier to the day, Genghis Khan died. And we got quite a chuckle out of that, you know?" he laughed. "Anyhow, yeah, she was a great lady."
"She was real tough, real strong," Bettilyon said. "They never sued the mining company or anything, and my parents were so helpful to us. We're people who waste money, and they never wasted money. They helped all of us buy houses."
The decision to put the line in about Bush came easily, although after several family members thought of it, there was some "how can we really say this" kind of laughter. "It should be impeachment, not removal," Pete said, laughing. "That can mean a couple of things."
Joe Baron has no question that his mother would approve.
"She just didn't trust that a big corporate guy was going to be doing what was best for her. She just really didn't trust him," he said.
A memorial service for Sally Baron will be held at Covenant Lutheran Church in Stoughton at 1 p.m. Friday. Graveside services in Hurley are scheduled for Sept. 20. lsensenbrenner@madison.com
NordP
Sorry FLOTUS, Laura!
Covenant is a member of the apostate Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as if we should be surprised. The ELCA is neither truly evangelical nor Lutheran, and it's false teaching has seperated itself from the Church. It is, however, at least in America.
Or perhaps it would be aired something like this:
Petah: "Our top story tonight, damaging charges that President Bush is a whistle ass have been leveled. They come from a former politician's late wife; her family only felt safe to air such allegations after her death. What sort of 'chill wind' has overtaken American? Is Mister Bush right for American? We take you now to an American city with a Canadian name..."
I didn't know the Wellstones had relatives in Wisconsin....
Hey, MG70! What is a "whistle ass"?
No pictures, PLEASE. I'm not sure my keyboard could survive a Mountain Dew spew of that magnitude.
Olbermann Highlights Dead Woman’s “Whistle Ass” Blast at Bush
MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Thursday night found it newsworthy to highlight a story dug out of a newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin about a woman who passed away who wanted her obituary to include how she thought President Bush was a “liar” and a “whistle ass." The obit stated: “Memorials in her honor can be made to any organization working for the removal of President Bush.”
MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth caught this gratuitous item from Olbermann on the August 21 Countdown:
“We report the story tonight of Sally Barron and her death, and why her family mentioned President Bush in her obituary. We do so on the premise that his fellow Republican Theodore Roosevelt was right when he wrote, 'To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is also morally treasonable to the American public.'
“Sally Barron was a cook, the mother of six kids, and the widow of an iron miner turned small town mayor in Wisconsin. When she died there Monday at age 71, her children put the following message in her obituary: 'Memorials in her honor can be made to any organization working for the removal of President Bush.' Ms. Barron's daughter told the Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin, quote, 'She thought he was a liar. She'd always watch CNN, C-SPAN, and, you know, she'd just swear at the TV and say, 'Oh, Bush, he's such a whistle ass,'” unquote. Services for Mrs. Barron will be conducted tomorrow in Stoughton, Wisconsin."
To believe that it’s not unpatriotic to criticize the President does not mean you must highlight every tacky attack on him by cranks.
The August 21 Capital Times carried the story, about the obituary, which Olbermann picked up, “Obituary backs 'removal of Bush'; Woman 'thought he was a liar.'”
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