In February Mom and DD celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary. At that time he'd been in the Alzheimers wing of the local nursing home in South Boston since November, and he sometimes forgot that he and mom were married. In fact, one day he told her he had a question he wanted to ask her. "Will you marry me?" Mom laughed and told him they were already married.
For most of those five years they spent every day together, laughing and enjoying each other's company. Last week after several weeks of declining health, DD began having trouble breathing, had to be moved to the hospital, and was never able to recover. He died early Thursday morning. Everyone who knew him talked about how happy he was, how he always had a smile on his face and how he was simply a "nice man." He talked often about his time of military service during World War II. Often we heard the same stories over and over again, but that time of his life was so important to him that we knew he'd always come back around to talking about those years. At the graveside portion of his funeral, the local VFW gave a 21-gun salute, "Taps" was played and the flag that draped his coffin was carefully folded and presented to my mom.
Thanks to all who expressed sympathy and prayed for the family. For an interesting photo collage of Mom, DD and "Little Bit," check over at my sister's blog where Hannah created a memorial post for DD.
Recent Comments