6 November
My sweet Granny died today. Her funeral will be held on Sunday at Weatherbee's Funeral Home in Rotan, Texas. She will be buried next to my dear Pop in the Snyder Cemetary.
She was my mother's step-mother and had been living in a nursing home near Tulia, Texas for the past eight years I believe. Pop died in 1983 and Granny never seemed the same afterward. They loved each other very much and spent a lot of time together which many couples can't seem to manage.
When I was in junior college in Snyder I would visit Granny occassionally on the weekends. I would let her know a couple of days before that I was coming and then when I arrived she would have this huge lunch prepared for me. I was young so I ate a lot. But after a while I asked her not to bother with such a big lunch. That she shouldn't have to go to the trouble. Didn't work. So then I started visiting with no warning. Well, on the off chance that I stopped by she got in the habit of having some food warming in the oven all day during the weekend. So then I'd have to eat and boy let me tell you it was bone dry! You just can't put one by Granny!
After I moved to Arlington for college I just didn't get the opportunity to drive out West to visit much. And I never was very dependable at sending birthday or holiday cards to anyone. I think I managed it one or two years during college but that was all. I always have felt bad about that.
While I was in college things started to go bad for Granny. She, eventually, was diagnosed as having a mild form of Alzheimer's and my aunts and uncles made the painful decision to move her to a nursing home. It was the best thing for her really. But anyone who has had to do that knows just how difficult and emotionally draining it can be.
I got to visit her there twice only and the last time was the hardest. It was just before G and I came to Japan. Mom and I drove up to Tulia to visit with Aunt Tootsie and to see Granny. Granny wasn't doing too good even then. She didn't know we were there. She couldn't sit up by herself or walk. So we sat by her bedside and talked to her. I think mom even read to her from the bible, which she always liked. We were there for lunch so I went with Granny and the nurse to the cafeteria and I fed her lunch. It was the only time that she actually answered me if I asked her a question. I don't blame her, the mashed potatoes did smell really good. I would have sneaked some but she would have caught me.
I wish I could be there for the funeral. It would be nice to visit Pop's grave as well. I hope that in some way Pop was with her while she was in the home. Perhaps while she couldn't talk to us she could talk to him. I'm sure that wherever you go, after, they are together now. And happy.
15 November
Mom sent me Granny's obituary which my Aunt Tootsie wrote:
ROTAN - Graveside services for Evelyn Inez Elkins Browning Hamm, 90, of Plainview, formerly of Rotan, will be at 2 p.m. Monday in Snyder City Cemetary with the Rev. Mickey Wagoner officiating.
Arrangements are by Weathersbee Funeral Home.
Mrs. Hamm died Friday morning in a Plainview nursing home.
She was born May 22, 1908, to Roy and Corella Hardin Elkins and married Johnny Jackson Browning on Dec. 25, 1926. He died Sept. 13, 1950. She married Samuel James Hamm in 1956 in Rotan. He died in 1983.
She was an LVN and worked at Callan Hospital for many years. She was a Baptist and a 65-year member of the Order of the Eastern Star, serving as worthy matron of both Snyder and Rotan chapters.
She helped with one of the last cattle drives in a covered wagon through Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.
Mrs. Hamm moved to Tulia on Dec. 3, 1989, and to Plainview in 1993.
Surviving are three sons, Roy J. Browning of Billings, Mont., Henry Mark Browning of San Angelo and Curtis Bryce Browning of Boyd; two daughters, Dorrene Acker of Tulia and Daphene Campbell of Cedar Park; two sisters, Juanita Hart of Snyder and Jettie Crenshaw of Graford; eight grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Two sisters, Georgia Ruth Boss and Tisha Louise Sullenger, both of Snyder, are deceased.
18 November
Last night we stayed up to watch the Leonid meteorite shower. The prediction was that it would be a major storm (200 to 5000 meteorites per hour) and best viewed from East Asia. Well, as anyone who has watched tv or read a newspaper knows ... it was a bust. Maybe not for scientists but for us and about 50 of our neighbors standing out in an amazingly cold park from 3am to 5am ... it was definitely a bust.
We did see one exciting one. Just when we decided to leave and I was packing things up there was a flash like someone took a picture but everyone in the park gave a collective "howdy doo" (but in Japanese). The meteorite left behind a smoke trail. Pretty impressive.
The next day Emiko came to visit us. It was nice to finally see her again. She visited us in Austin last year but since we arrived in Japan we've all been too busy to get together. We went and had a little okonomiyaki, cereal, coffee and a caught up on old times.
