Yesterday, my wife Anne's Aunt Margaret passed away in her home at the age of 94. Margaret and her long deceased husband Armand had four sons and a daughter and the family and extended family will gather to hold a service to celebrate Margaret's life.
Having first met Margaret in 1964, I enjoyed her. She was a powerful force, not shy to speak her mind and often with passion in her voice and a determination to win an argument usually with a witty statement. She was long a political conservative but as the years passed, she became more politically liberal and more compassionate and understanding of others.
Margaret had been a heavy smoker for 50 years, but as it took an increasing toll on her health, in the last 30 years of her life she stopped smoking. Unfortunately, from all that smoking, Emphysema enveloped her lungs and she had difficulty breathing.
In the last years of her life, her voice and her energy began to still, as with illnesses and injuries from falls, living became difficult for her. But especially as she gradually became blind and deaf and her weight dropped to 80 pounds, on what had been a 5 ft. 5 in. frame, life became extremely difficult.
Hopefully she is now at peace, the pain and the difficult existence behind her. To think of her brings a smile to my face, for it was fun to have known a person of such energy and character, one who could be a fire brand one moment and make you laugh the next moment.
Dick
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