Thursday, September 01, 2005

Remembering the Calendar on the Wall

My mother called me tonight to say that an elderly lady from back home had passed away a couple of days ago. Elsie Young, 82, died from alzheimers disease.

Elsie was the wife of Roy Young, the owner of the community "corner" store. The store was about 2 minutes down the road and I probably went there every day as a kid. 50 cents was a big deal back then (and now I sound like my mother!). But it really could buy a bag of chips with just enough left over for a few one-cent candy.

My memory of Elsie... she was very nice to me and almost always sat on a chair just next to the checkout counter. I remember that she had a calendar posted on the wall and would always use the little square of each day to write in the weather and the temperature. She told me once that she always liked to look back to remember what the weather was like from one year to the next. Funny how the mind works.

I really know nothing about the disease from which she died. If you would like to know more as well, here are some websites...

http://www.alzheimer.ca/
http://www.alz.org/
http://www.alzheimers.org/

My sincere sympathies to the family at the time of sorrow.

2 comments:

Quirky Christa said...

Isn't it ironic that she would write the weather so she could look back and remember, yet isn't her disease one of forgetfulness? Maybe the soul knows more than we think....

Daph's Amazing Kids said...

Boy did you bring back some memories. Yeah, I remember chips being about 30 or 35 cents a bag and then you could buy some candy with the left over change. lol. My how times change. I mostly remember Elsie picking the raspberries behind the store (I think she spent hours doing that).