My Aunt Frannie Died

My step-mother's cousin died Saturday, April 5th at 11am in Good Samaritan Hospital. She was 90 years old. I can remember going "downtown" to see Aunt Fran, Aunt Mary and Aunt Sadie (who was aunt Frannies mom). Man could they cook. One famous meal I remember was at Aunt Marys, the whole gang was there and they made homemade sausage and zepoles with powdered sugar. While, in the living room the men were watching TV as the immortal words were spoken " One small step for man, one giant step for mankind." And we put a man on the moon. Lots of smiles that day.

Frannie moved in with us 17 years ago when she could no longer stay in her brothers home. She was going to move in to an assisted living community against her will and was experiencing bouts of depression. As a family we prayed about what the right thing was to do and my wife woke up the next morning saying that she dreamed about aunt frannie living here with us. So we had a family meeting, My Dad, my step-mom, my wife and I and we decided to drive to Brooklyn and offer aunt fran to live with my parents downstairs.

It was real good when my dad was alive. He kept the balance and they seemed to enjoy each others company. After Dad passed away tensions got tighter downstairs until my mom passed away from complications of a broken hip. So it was my imediate family upstairs and aunt fran downstairs. We moved my oldest daughter down for company for fran and privacy for my daughter. They had seperate entrance and seperate bedrooms.

Aunt Fran had been the healthiest person I ever knew personally. She was hopitalized at 9 with pluracy and stayed in the hospital for months. She never saw a hospital again for over 75 years! A few years ago she slipped and dislocated her shoulder and the emergency room doctor reset it and sent her back home to us. On March 29th Frannie was having some trouble breathing and had fallen. My daughter took her to the hospital emergency room where she was given a bed and diagnosed with pneumonia. She never recovered. She has a burial plot with her brother and his wife in Brooklyn. I'll be going to Brooklyn on Wednesday to say one last good bye to Aunt Fran. Ciao, Bella

Grace and Peace,

Ed