Bob's mother's death

Bob's sweet mother Maxine left this world to be with Jesus on December 3rd about 3:05 a.m. She had Alzheimer's so the last 4 or 5 years have been challenging for Bob. About 3 weeks before she died we had to move her to Quail Ridge to a Alzheimer's facility so things were going to get worse for her. She did know Bob the day before she died so that was good. She was in good health for the most part and so we are glad she did not have to endure what was sure to come had she stayed with us for awhile longer. The hardest thing to endure was typical of the disease and that was the anger and rage at the caregiver, Bob and the outbursts of profanity that was so unlike her.

Most of her life were devoted to sharing the gospel of Jesus and trying to help those in need. She had a hard life in that she lost a son Richard at 8 years of age and another son, Raymond when he was grown. It would be so hard to outlive your child.

I wanted to write this blog to share what an experience we had in laying her to rest. First we had a small funeral for her here in Lubbock, Texas and that went very well. She wanted to be buried next to her husband Ray who had died in 1996 and her youngest son Richard in Dakota City, Nebraska, so Bob had to work with not only the funeral home here but another one up there. Sanders Funeral Home delivered the body to Delta Airlines in Dallas on Saturday evening and we took a plane out on Tuesday morning. We were supposed to arrive in Sioux City, Iowa at 3:46 in the afternoon. The only airlines that go into Sioux City, is Delta-Northwest so from Lubbock we had to fly to Memphis, Tenn, then transfer to a flight that went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and from there we were supposed to transfer to a plane that would take us to Sioux City. Before we left, Bob's cousin Irene, called and said a blizzard was on the way and maybe we should postpone things but knowing how unpredicatible the weather can be, we decided to take a chance and go on after talking with the director of the funeral home there.

While in Memphis, we got word that the boday did not arrive in Omaha, so they were not sure when it would or where her remains were. Poor Bob got on the phone with the funeral home in Sioux City, and then his cousins to cancel the funeral which was scheduled the next day. After arriving in Minneapolis, after several hours of delay, they cancelled our flight. We decided to try to get closer to Sioux City if possible so we flew into Sioux Falls, South Dakota where we spent the night. The next morning we rented a car and drove down to Sioux City.

We were able to have the services the next day as they located Mrs. Strong in Minneapolis and finally got her remains in Sioux City. The blizzard did come as predicted so we were at the cemetary with temperatures at -5 degrees with a wind chill of 17 below zero. The crowd was much smaller due to the weather being so nasty, but we finally did get her laid to rest.

Next came the challenge of trying to get our flights changed to the next day. So we flew home a day later than planned.

Wish you could plan not to leave this earth in December, in the middle of a blizzard. We missed Rose's performance in the Nutcracker and also Cody's Nutcracker performance and Brianna's Choir concert due to our untimely travels. So sorry for this for the girls sake.

Here it is December 16th and I don't have all of those 32 presents purchased or wrapped or any of the decorations up. I am feeling extremely sorry for myself. I am sure that as time passes we will laugh about all of this as it was an unbelievable experience. I understand Maxine was a little fire-cracker in life and she sure went out with a bang. Bob was lucky as was I to have a good woman for his mother. We will miss her but we would never want her back the way she was.