Minnie Magdalene (KUHN) VAN DUYN Ancestry Chart – 5 Generations (Ancestor 15)

Minnie Magdalene (KUHN) VAN DUYN is my 2nd great grandmother.

Twelve Years Ago Today – Ancestor 3, My Mother

It was twelve years ago today. It was approximately 3:45pm. It was a Monday.

I got there about 25 minutes before then, maybe fewer. Her fluids were unhooked. I just sat with her. She was so cold. So cold. Her hands were freezing cold. I held them.

Margaret Ellen Wilson, 3 April 1931, Muncie, Indiana – Ancestor 3

I loved my mother so much, although I often had a strange way of showing it. But she was my best friend, my companion. We had so much fun, particularly after I became an adult. She understood me, but she couldn’t help me.

My Aunt Janie

My Aunt Janie died 15 years ago today. She was my aunt by marriage, but when I was a child growing up, I didn’t know that. I just knew her as Aunt Janie.

She was married to one of my mother’s brothers, and they were the parents of my three cousins, all older than me. We didn’t see them daily, but I always liked it when we did.

When my cousin called me that afternoon, Valentine’s Day 2002, I knew why she was on the other end of the phone. Aunt Janie had been battling breast cancer off and on for years, and it had finally taken hold and would not let go. Aunt Janie was on hospice in Winter 2002. Aunt Janie died on Valentine’s Day.

Lively, living, loving her daughter as a best friend, enduring my uncle’s eccentricities and not-so-niceties, always active, wonderful Aunt Janie.

You are dearly missed by your children and by me.

I wish I could give you a big hug.

 

Some of Those Who Built Me

These are images that I have of my ancestors. Without these, I would not know their features. I do not know their voices