Hello Everyone,

I am sending group mail family and friends to let everyone know that my
mother passed away last night, and I am including this NG plus h+b among my
friends. I had been with her until about half an hour before she died. She
was very weak and could barely speak, but I called my sister from her room
and Mother’s last words to the two of us were, "I love you." I will treasure
the fact that we had those last moments together and the memory of those
final words.

I don’t think we are ever really prepared to say "goodbye" to someone we
love, but this really was a blessing for Mother. She was 91 years old and
had been essentially bedridden for more than five years. She died peacefully
and did not have to endure the ordeal of still another visit to the
emergency room. She was very, very tired at the end, but she was not in
pain. I think she was ready to die, and she died at peace.

Mother was a special person, and everyone who knew her loved her.  She
taught first grade for 32 years and left such an imprint on many of her
young students that she even received wedding invitations and college
graduation invitations from some of them many years later.

MaryL