No, I did not publish a "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" post this year, or anything for a long time, although I now belatedly offer warm sentiments to my few readers. My excuse is that I am being worn down. Life keeps throwing stress in the form of worry and the occasional major loss at us and is winning that fight.
The economy still sucks, job security is still low, and the government's flailing to keep the ruling party in power continues to neither help us nor secure the future. These factors have not changed for most of five years now and are great sources of stress.
For our family, in addition to the above, we lost a close member. For over 19 years Juanita Stewart, Sharon's mom, lived with us. Her older daughter had died when a sudden rainstorm turned the water run-off channel of a road she was crossing into to torrent of rushing water and she tried to drive across it and was washed away by a sudden high wall of water, and so we invited her to stay with us. From the start, she did much to fit in. She babysat the kids, taught them how to cook, offered advice, helped with the bills, and was, the way I recall, a generally nice though sad lady who would ramble on in getting to a point but who loved us all. Grandma of the House (GotH) as I called her could not open up and be the happy cuddly kind of Grandma, and she occasionally would tell the kids how to do things in the kitchen when they thought they were beyond needing help, which led to some unkind grumpiness at times. She also had severe osteoporosis, which in watching her deal with it over the last few years had me admiring her ability to live with that debilitating condition and also wondering when the medical community is going to get on with developing some real cures for it. She liked birds, and had several bird identification books, and flowers, and the small critters that often wandered in our yard. For years she went for walks, or shopping and visits to the doctors who over time became more and more her reason for going out, and kept active with her slow, short steps. As Sharon said, her Mom was one of her best friends, and they spent a lot of time together talking, or just watching TV. Juanita sometimes got frustrated, or was in pain, which meant that the person or people near her would need to be sympathetic and helpful. Sometimes those with a bit less wisdom would get upset at her; to them I say "lets see how you are doing when you hit your 70s and 80s".
I mentioned in a previous post about all the change that she saw. She also had a difficult life beyond the early years where her family got through the Great Depression. She was one of several kids (7 I think) and her favorite Sister was killed in an automobile accident when in her late teens. I believe that made her somewhat nonreligious, despite her father being a preacher. It also probably made her somewhat bitter overall, keeping her from becoming close to others over the years. Very sad, but at heart she was still a good and kind person, though some probably did not see that. Her parents, especially her father, were apparently difficult people, very strict and not easy to be close to. She worked for a while as a telephone operator, which she talked about once in a way that showed pride and happiness in being successful in that. At some point she married her only husband, Merrill (spelling may be wrong) also known as "Red" who was an Air Force enlisted maintenance troop. He worked on the U-2s, one of the wonders of aviation during the late 1950s and 1960s. She went with him to at least two exotic locations: Algeria and Japan. Recall that this was not long after World War II, so Japan at that time was still smarting from being defeated, and was desperately trying to dig out from the severe loses they had taken. Juanita's time in those countries was, I gather, stressful since she had never been outside the US and here she was going into fundamentally different cultures. But she got through these experiences as she did so many others. Their marriage produced two children, Sharon and her older sister Margie. Margie had some serious mental health issues, though whenever I met her she was nice. Eventually the marriage broke up, and Juanita stayed in Mountain Home ID while Merrill moved on.
When I met her in Mt Goat (the very unofficial Air Force nickname for Mt Home, ID) she had been the chief cook at the Mt Home city hospital for many years. She maintained her house, with Sharon, and I recall the first time Sharon took me over to meet her she was mowing the lawn. We had a pleasant meeting and I was impressed that she did so much despite already showing signs of having osteoporosis. Over time I became more impressed with all she did, and that respect lasted. One major cause for respect was her ability to quit smoking. Apparently she had smoked for many years, but at some point she decided to quit and did so. A strong willed woman, indeed. After Sharon and I married and moved to Albuquerque we exchanged visits occasionally, with Juanita driving down in an old small red car and always being nice. She eventually retired, then moved in with Margie in Tucson, where she kept busy working at Burger King until Margie's accident.
So, getting back to the near past. Over the years her health had started to decline. The wasting of her bones led to some bone breaks and hospital stays. But in October (if memory serves) she started having problems breathing and with some chest issues, and she was diagnosed with COPD and a failing heart. From there on, Sharon became her primary care giver, and was wonderful for her Mom. For two weeks Juanita was in the hospital, and foolishly I thought that modern medicine would be able to cure her. They assigned home care nurses and physical therapists, an oxygen generator, and medicines when she came home. This seemed at first to help, with GotH even going out one last time to shop, though Sharon said she did not do well on that trip. I noticed that sometimes she seemed to make some progress, but more often there was some decline. And so it was. The day her home care benefits ran out her nurse told Sharon that Juanita would not be getting better, that her symptoms were bad enough to justify hospice. She did not expect Juanita would die for over six months, but that she would not last much longer than that. The next day she had a heart attack in the morning after she and Sharon had had their morning chat, apparently as Sharon was driving to work, and died instantly.
I miss her.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Family History - Kids, our Early Years
Our time at Walker AFB, near Roswell NM was good, from what Mom told me. Since Dad did not mention it, I gather he had a good time as well since if Mom liked it is highly likely that he did. They were just that kind of couple. Dad's assignment was as a bombardier in the B-36 Peacemaker, one of the biggest propeller driven aircraft ever made. The Peacemaker was designed to drop nucs. From what I understand now, part of the bombardier's job entailed going back to the bombs and arming them during flight as well as directing the plane to the bomb release point. Hard to imagine being around that immense amount of nuclear power, actually unlocking the fail safe in preparation to destroy an entire base, or whatever the target would have been.
As mentioned, I was created a conjoined twin (thighs and knees) and we tore apart about a month before I was due. After spending time in the incubator after the surgery needed to repair the damage caused by the sudden separation I went home to our quarters on base. The doctor told my parents that I would always have weak knees, though they never told me if that was internal to the knee or just because of the damage done over the patella that occurred as I pulled away from my twin. The scars seem to be on the surface only, and I am fairly sure that the pain and other symptoms in my left knee are the result of the malpractice from Air Force medicine's failure to properly diagnose an injury during my first assignment and not from my birth trauma. But back to the story: Mom told me that the house was under the flight path of the massive B-36's, and that when they would take off the whole house shook to the point where we had cracks in the ceiling. She said I loved the noise and vibration, but that she was concerned. Having spent time under air attack in World War II, and having been trapped in a collapsed building in Vienna that collapsed due to bombing, it should not be considered surprising that she was less thrilled about the magnificent roar that the Peacemakers made than I was. I have no first hand memories of that time, but a few stories from Mom and Dad remain:
To set the stage: During this time the US and the USSR (for you young ones who have or will suffer through the ever more useless baby-sitting that carries the name public schooling now), that was what Russia and the countries that communist state annexed after World War I was called until the West, using the principles of democracy and capitalism, beat them to a pulp with almost no violence over the span of 45 years were Cold War enemies, pretending to be OK with each other's existence but in reality worried that the other would launch a surprise attack and win while wanting nothing more than to defeat the other if they could. The world mostly divided into three spheres of influence: The West primarily US, Western Europe, and a few other democracies or friendly aligned nations, the East primarily the USSR and Eastern Europe sort of with but sometimes definitely without China and a few other socialist nations, and the Nonaligned Nations who tried to steer clear of both blocks. Many countries each built huge military forces, since in the time before advanced technology you really needed a big military to win against another big military.
Once, when the Soviets were being particularly annoying, two Peacemaker's from Walker were sent to get them back to reality with a demonstration of their vulnerability under the Communist boot. This was back in the days before surface to air missiles, and when the typical Soviet solution to a military need was to build a lot fast and not worry much about capability. So they had a lot of fighters, but they did not have a fighter that could threaten the B-36 at the altitude that our bomber could reach. Our planes flew out to Moscow, circled the city, and came home. I can only imagine with a smile how much anger and embarrassment that caused the Soviets as the hated Yankee Imperialists showed them how vulnerable they were despite all the propaganda that they had been spewing about the superiority of their political and economic system that even back in those days was starting to unravel. A word to the wise: Socialism/communism failed the USSR, and if we keep trying to push that system here like we are now it will fail here as well. Do not believe the liars telling you otherwise!
The Peacemakers often deployed to Alaskan bases in times of tension or for training. They also had immediate response drills when they would be alerted to fly to Alaska but would not actually fly there. Using Alaskan air bases was a good idea, since obviously Alaska is a lot closer to the targets they would have been hitting than Walker. The crew members had cold weather gear chests to take with them for these often no-notice immediate response trips. Apparently one of Dad's crew mates used his cold weather chest to store his dirty laundry, and once brought it on board filled with that. Perhaps he thought this was to be one of the drills that did not end up in Alaska, but his thinking was incorrect and a few hours later he was trying to stay warm in gear suited for the southern New Mexico climate rather than the Alaska cold. I believe Dad noted that this was a one time occurrence.
From there, we went to Texas for Dad's next assignment. If I remember correctly, that was training to be an Intelligence Officer at Ft. Worth. Of course Dad having been in IN means that there are no stories from that time; that is just the nature of that field. But a big change to the family did occur while on that assignment. My sister, Elizabeth, was born on Halloween of (I think) 1958. Remind me to look through the family papers to confirm the year. The date I am sure of, because for some reason for years we celebrated one day off of this. I have no clue as to how that happened, but I happened to be in the room when Mom read Sis' birth certificate one day and looked a little shocked or confused and mentioned it to Dad. Perhaps she was born near the end or beginning of a day and my parents, relieved at her healthy birth, did not check to ascertain the date.
As mentioned, I was created a conjoined twin (thighs and knees) and we tore apart about a month before I was due. After spending time in the incubator after the surgery needed to repair the damage caused by the sudden separation I went home to our quarters on base. The doctor told my parents that I would always have weak knees, though they never told me if that was internal to the knee or just because of the damage done over the patella that occurred as I pulled away from my twin. The scars seem to be on the surface only, and I am fairly sure that the pain and other symptoms in my left knee are the result of the malpractice from Air Force medicine's failure to properly diagnose an injury during my first assignment and not from my birth trauma. But back to the story: Mom told me that the house was under the flight path of the massive B-36's, and that when they would take off the whole house shook to the point where we had cracks in the ceiling. She said I loved the noise and vibration, but that she was concerned. Having spent time under air attack in World War II, and having been trapped in a collapsed building in Vienna that collapsed due to bombing, it should not be considered surprising that she was less thrilled about the magnificent roar that the Peacemakers made than I was. I have no first hand memories of that time, but a few stories from Mom and Dad remain:
To set the stage: During this time the US and the USSR (for you young ones who have or will suffer through the ever more useless baby-sitting that carries the name public schooling now), that was what Russia and the countries that communist state annexed after World War I was called until the West, using the principles of democracy and capitalism, beat them to a pulp with almost no violence over the span of 45 years were Cold War enemies, pretending to be OK with each other's existence but in reality worried that the other would launch a surprise attack and win while wanting nothing more than to defeat the other if they could. The world mostly divided into three spheres of influence: The West primarily US, Western Europe, and a few other democracies or friendly aligned nations, the East primarily the USSR and Eastern Europe sort of with but sometimes definitely without China and a few other socialist nations, and the Nonaligned Nations who tried to steer clear of both blocks. Many countries each built huge military forces, since in the time before advanced technology you really needed a big military to win against another big military.
Once, when the Soviets were being particularly annoying, two Peacemaker's from Walker were sent to get them back to reality with a demonstration of their vulnerability under the Communist boot. This was back in the days before surface to air missiles, and when the typical Soviet solution to a military need was to build a lot fast and not worry much about capability. So they had a lot of fighters, but they did not have a fighter that could threaten the B-36 at the altitude that our bomber could reach. Our planes flew out to Moscow, circled the city, and came home. I can only imagine with a smile how much anger and embarrassment that caused the Soviets as the hated Yankee Imperialists showed them how vulnerable they were despite all the propaganda that they had been spewing about the superiority of their political and economic system that even back in those days was starting to unravel. A word to the wise: Socialism/communism failed the USSR, and if we keep trying to push that system here like we are now it will fail here as well. Do not believe the liars telling you otherwise!
The Peacemakers often deployed to Alaskan bases in times of tension or for training. They also had immediate response drills when they would be alerted to fly to Alaska but would not actually fly there. Using Alaskan air bases was a good idea, since obviously Alaska is a lot closer to the targets they would have been hitting than Walker. The crew members had cold weather gear chests to take with them for these often no-notice immediate response trips. Apparently one of Dad's crew mates used his cold weather chest to store his dirty laundry, and once brought it on board filled with that. Perhaps he thought this was to be one of the drills that did not end up in Alaska, but his thinking was incorrect and a few hours later he was trying to stay warm in gear suited for the southern New Mexico climate rather than the Alaska cold. I believe Dad noted that this was a one time occurrence.
From there, we went to Texas for Dad's next assignment. If I remember correctly, that was training to be an Intelligence Officer at Ft. Worth. Of course Dad having been in IN means that there are no stories from that time; that is just the nature of that field. But a big change to the family did occur while on that assignment. My sister, Elizabeth, was born on Halloween of (I think) 1958. Remind me to look through the family papers to confirm the year. The date I am sure of, because for some reason for years we celebrated one day off of this. I have no clue as to how that happened, but I happened to be in the room when Mom read Sis' birth certificate one day and looked a little shocked or confused and mentioned it to Dad. Perhaps she was born near the end or beginning of a day and my parents, relieved at her healthy birth, did not check to ascertain the date.
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