His moving, angst-filled Facebook post about her recent passing is one the most compelling tributes I have ever read.
I don’t know Mr. Morehead or his sister. His post showed up on my wall after a mutual friend commented on the raw emotions he so eloquently described. I read the second sentence and was immediately hooked. I had to finish it.
The story of these two siblings is rare and beautiful.
Here is what he wrote:
A difficult note to post is that I lost my oldest sister, Carol, on July 29th.
Mother said that Carol cried the first eight years of her life, they took her to Md's to no avail. Then when I was born, mother said "she loved that baby" and became calm.
Carol and my other sister Elaine basically raised me as Mom had to work, anyone from the 50's - 60's will remember the hard times. So it's like my mother has died.
She also was my best of friends.
A chance call to her some months back yielded that she wasn't well.
I asked if she wanted me to come down and she emphatically replied "YES"
(She had a CNA nurse sitting with her 5 days a week, 4 hours daily)
So for the next 14 weekends I went down to Columbus Ga, some 300+ mi round-trip, and played Chef, Entertainer and Handyman.
I bought things for her to eat as she was a mere 82# at the time.
Trying hard to remember things we ate as children, when she sent me shopping I'd attempt to vary her diet in an attempt to get her to eat each weekend.
When she went to the hospital she'd gained some 11-12 pounds.
Pneumonia and the pitiful attempts of the hospital staff resulted in her demise.
All my pleas to go over the heads of the ICU unit went unheeded and warned against. It probably would not have helped, still "due diligence" was not the order of the day at that hospital.
Oddly, she died exactly 365 days after the death of her husband, David Donalson.
The both went to Berry College in the 60's, he had told his roommate that he needed a date for a dance, so he grabbed Berry's annual and proceeded to "shop" for a date. Upon spotting the prettiest girl, he exclaimed "She's the One"
Two years later they married.
He was the only man she dated, upon his death I feel she spiraled downhill until the end.
During the last few months we had many laughs, spoke of people we knew long ago, amazing what her memory was even while very sick.
I told her one day that she got all the looks AND brains in the family. This of course elicited a round of laughter from her.
Sad would be an understatement, I feel as if I've been disemboweled.
After several successive deaths close to me in the 90's I quit going to funerals.
First my Dad, then sweet Erica Brandt next my lifelong friend Ginger Hardin's son, then closest pal for life Richard Barnes. At this point I'm merely a "survivor"
Yeah, I know, poor pitiful me. I know her two boys are suffering as well as the grandchildren and her friends.
Oddly while sitting with her these last 3~ months she didn't want me to call anyone else, she wanted her old rough and tumble brother who would get her to say a minor expletive, then she'd laugh like a schoolgirl :)
No point in saying this but it's my page and my rules so here goes.
I'd swap places with any of the aforementioned ones in a second.
Strange it is how a near-worthless individual is allowed to live well and in decent health while the good ones don't ?
In the Rome Paper I put;
"In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the American Cancer Society"
Thanks for caring
HM
What a wonderful legacy. Mr. Morehead, I know you are hurting, but rest assured that your sister passed knowing that she was dearly loved by her brother. That you were the calming influence from the beginning is something truly special, and a gift you continued to give until the very end. If I am so lucky to have my own children share this kind of devotion decades from now, I will truly be blessed.
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