Rosie

I played the piano at a funeral today. It was the funeral of a woman that I used to visit on a regular basis. I don't think I was her visiting teacher, but I was the Relief Society president and wanted to keep a good watch on her. I played hymns for everyone to sing, then I also played, "In the Garden" and "The Old Rugged Cross". This woman grew up in Oklahoma and loved the old country religious songs. She had a very thick Oklahoma accent.

They reminded us of some interesting things about her. First of all, when she was 5 years old, she got polio and her left arm was affected by it. She never had full use of that arm. She said the only thing she never learned to do was ride a bike. That was probably because her left leg was also slightly affected by the polio. All of the children in her family were given names with "ene" on the end. Her middle name was Purline, her sisters were Lorene, Alene, and Katherine ( I wonder if they pronounced it Kathreen) and her brother was Eugene. I thought that was cute.

By the way, I saw alot of people at the funeral that I know. Some of them were older men, and they all gave me hugs when they saw me. Now I smell like men's cologne. ;)

Rosie had a huge doll collection. A few years ago her sons put up shelving in one of her bedrooms and turned the room in to a sort of doll museum. She had some wonderful dolls including a very nice Shirley Temple collection, and a "Little House on the Prairie" collection of dolls, complete with wagon.

This woman married and had 4 sons. When the youngest son was 3 months old, her husband left her for another woman. She had to raise those 4 boys all alone. She did a great job though. They all turned out to be fine men. Her oldest is the mayor of Antioch. I hope that my husband and I together can turn out as good of children as this woman did alone.