Delia Allyn
August 11, 1909 - November 7, 1999
My grandmother is more the strong silent type. She has a knack for delivering killer lines at the right time - she doesn't speak much, so when she does, it's usually to the point.
Like when she told me she remembered hearing I was the last one to speak with my father before he committed suicide.
she was a home economics teacher for many years in north central nebraska. while she was teaching, she hired someone to watch her kids some (and i thought my mother had originated the idea).
she's been aging physically, and perhaps mentally faster than granpa,
she fell and broke her hip in the late eighties,
it slowed her down,
the weight accumulates
she moves less,
health deteriorates and after some time of sitting,
the strong silent type is tired
granpa worries her mind is goingi visited them in texas in june 1997,
before leaving for honduras,
i think she was just not used to being addressed
granpa does all the talking,
ordering food
making decisions
then he tries to order her to have an opinion
while she's been keeping herself busy staring off into space
with her eyes shut
but then she and grampa moved back to nebraska, home turf - near relatives and where they'd grown up. in the rest home, grandma actually recovered some of her mobility and definitely mental clarity. grampa, on the other hand, suffered some, though not quietly (according to a june '98 visit).
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