In Memory

Wolf's Aunt Dorothy died last night.  We received the word from his cousins.

I remember her as delightful, kind and giving.  She loved to cook for family and friends.  She was very kind to Wolf and me.  In 1986 we returned to SoCal from Germany.  She let us stay in one of her spare rooms until we found a place to live.  It was a great help to our transition.  

As much as I hate it, I'm glad I re-joined Facebook.  It was through a private message there from one of the cousins that we heard she was very ill.  When we were last in SoCal 2 years ago, I gave all of them all of our contact info but the only one they had seemed to have was Wolf's work email.  Wolf hasn't been at work this past week.   

She was about 85 years old and quite frail.  I was sad we were unable to see her 2 years ago as I caught a cold from a friend and her family didn't want to take the chance of her catching it as she was so frail.  Even though Wolf might have gone alone to see her, they were still concerned he might have carried it from me.  :(

She had had open heart surgery 2 years ago and spent a long time in a skilled nursing facility.  Once home, she was cared for my her younger son.  Then about a week ago she suffered a massive stroke.  Her children (Wolf's cousins) made all the right decisions. They agreed to initial life support.  Once scans confirmed she was unlikely to ever wake up from the coma due to massive brain damage, they chose hospice. 

She passed peacefully and comfortably within a couple days, with family constantly at her side.