CHAPTER 202: IMPRESSIONS OF MY LIFE: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A RECHERCHE POET STONE BROKE AND FIELD OF STONES2012

CHAPTER 202. STONE BROKE AND THE FIELD OF STONES 2012

 

My mother died on September 23, 2012 at the age of 92.  My father passed on October 11, 2012 just pass his 94 birthday. 

The cause of death for each was given as Atherosclerosis - Heart Diseae.  I doubt this is so. They is what the give as the cause for very old people who pass. This is why heart disease is the number one killed. Doctors just stick it on the certificate because it is an ease thing to say.   My parents, at their age, at a plethora of ailments they could have chose from, but I’ve found doctors often too lazy to sort such things out and you got to give something as the cause of death.

My parents had been married 72 years, but engaged two
years before they wed. They met right after my mom graduated high school. They truly loved each other.  They died less than three weeks

So what happened since I said if this happened there was enough funds to bury them both. 

Well, when both parents went into Pembrooke as Medicare patients it became necessary to reduce their total assets to less than $2,000. I was going to have to sell their house and car and dispose of all their possessions. This seems a daunting task. 

The car was hardly new and the house was in bad condition, especially since I had noticed when I went up to take care of dad that there was a sign on the washing machine in the shed.  It said, “Do not flush toilet if washer is running.”  Apparently a pipe in the basement that was somehow connected to the septic system was broke and if those two things happened at the same time the septic tack  overflowed into the basement.  How do I sell this place? I hadn’t a clue and so once again I prayed and put it in God’s hands.

First thing that happened was the young woman their
church had hired to clean their home asked if she could buy there are. That went pretty smoothly.

Then I got a call from the Realtor I had engaged that another young woman wanted to purchase their property. She wanted to put a shelter in the back yard for dogs, something  I knew would have pleaded mom. Best of all, the young ladies father was going to pay for the place and pay cash. They wanted to complete the settlement by October 1 and since I was cash and no financing was involves this was an easy transaction. I got a company that would take everything in the house at no charge. Thus by the first of October the house, car and all the furniture, old paint cans, everything in the attic was gone.

 I then had the  funds to pay for the funerals just in time,
since my mom had died on September 23 and then my dad died October 11.

My mom had written out what they wanted for their funerals
and I  attempted to give them everything she had asked for, except there was no viewing and no bagpiper.

We already had the plots there at Bethel. I used an undertaker in Phoenixville who had  done other burials for the family. The undertaker took care of everything once I selected the coffins and such.  Each funeral cost over $10,000.  This is not an amount I ever want to spend on my own. 

Dad had a. Military interment. An Honor Guard from the
Navy performed it, playing Tap at the grave site. I was given the flag that had  covers the coffin. I place a photo of his mother he had always kept next to his bed in the coffin with him.

Neither of my parents really looked like themselves now. 

We purchased a tombstone and had a meal after each service. Many people came for my parents were popular, especially dad who had both a number of truckers and school bus drivers attend.

 

It took another year for the estate t probate. The amount I received from my parents passing wasn’t great, but it was
enough that we could make needed repairs on our home so we were no longer the neighborhood eyesore. Most of it  went to replace the old

asphalt siding an add some replacement windows. The house looked quite different than it did when we moved there in 1982.