mable whitley.

[pouder]

My Mother's side of the family comes from Idaho. My great grandpa and grandma grew up in some small town that escapes my memory. . got married in 1924 in swinging 20s. they moved to california in the 30s during the depression. i believe okies, is what they called them. im sure steinbeck would know better than i would. but anyways, my great grandmoth wasn't educated. she wasnt even literate. she never got passed the 3rd grade. she spent most of her days raising her children, jean (my grandmother) and laverene. she was a husband to a man who became rather rich, owning his own trucking company (which eventually went bankrupt during the gas shortage of the 1970s), so she spent most her time at the river with her husbans potential clients and being a good mother, and eventually grandmother. and then her husband retired and they moved to arizona. after jean's husband died in 1985, they moved to domingez hills, ca to live with thier daughter and eventually moved to long beach as a trio in the mid-90s. i mmoved in with them in 2001. to help take care of them, they were getting old and couldn't take care of themselves. my great grandpa's alzhimers and my great grandmothers parkinsons setting in. after a year or two, it became too much for my grandmother jean and i to handle, so we put them in a home. things went from bad to worse. they both lost the will to eat, and all that. with parkinsons, not only do you get the shakes, but you can't talk that loud. and my grandpa had a hearing problem that couldnt simply be solved with a hearing aid. so he couldnt hear her, and he would get frustrated. every time i went and visited she had new brusies and eventually we couldnt even hear what she was saying. the last time i saw her, which was about a month ago she cried when i left. she wasnt eating, and i went up there and she ate "like a good girl," thats what the nurses said anyways.

she died today. i wish i could have seen her one last time, without the tears. just normal, like at christmas's and birthdays past.

grandma whitley, i hope im wrong about god, and i hope you're in a better place.