We'll be receiving visitors at the Wessels & Wilk Funeral Home Tuesday, June 29 from 3 to 8 p.m. Click here for a map. The service at the First Congregational Church of Royal Oak begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 30 and will be followed by a light lunch. A map to the church can be accessed by clicking here.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us and we'll get back with you as soon as possible (sorry, no phone numbers are going up on the web!).
I had been staying with Mom at night since she was admitted to the hospital on Thursday, and Dave, Byron and Colleen were there during the day. She was still relatively lucid and responsive early Saturday, and we reminisced about all sorts of random things as the sun came up -- the old Westinghouse refrigerator we had that ended up at Rose and Sam's cottage, going to the Royal Oak Farmers' Market every Saturday morning before the crack of dawn, Byron making popcorn as we watched Saturday Night at the Movies, Sunday drives, her parents, her grandchildren ... it was truly a gift to have those tender moments with her.
It was heart wrenching to watch as she and her life-long best friend, Priscilla, visited on Saturday, both knowing it was the last time they'd be together. Lots of tears were shed all around. These two women were so different yet had a friendship that endured through good and bad times. They used to joke about who would go first. Well, now we know.
Dave arrived Sunday morning just as the doctor was making his rounds, and he advised us that it looked like she would not be around for more than 48 hours. I made a quick trip to Grand Rapids (no speeding tickets), and during the seven hours I was away, her condition had eroded significantly. As nighttime fell she became quieter and quieter.Shortly after midnight she took her last breath, and the nurse confirmed what I thought: she was gone.
Byron and Dave quickly returned to the hospital. We said our goodbyes and thanks to this amazing woman. There were many times she was a royal pain in the neck (and other places), and her Polish stubbornness was legendary, but she also was a loving person who always saw what needed to be done and did it, up until the very end.What a gal!
Our favorite tea drinker.
Valentine's day 2009.
Holding court
From the 90th birthday party in May
Picture from the mid-1940s
Otto & Ruth Kuxhaus, Lilyan Dickson, Viola & Chester Kotowski
Ruth, around 1945
Subscribe to a blog about Ruth
Posts
Comments
2 comments:
With out any due credit to me, I was glad to see your mom one last time on my recent visit to MI. She was still the classic, wonderful Ruth I always knew.
Wish you well at this time.
Dale
Your mom was my first boss, back in the mid-70's when I was in high school. She hired me as a stock girl at RB's. She and I got along well and she soon promoted me to a salesperson, then cashier, then assistant manager. I worked there all through high school and in the summers and breaks when I was home from Michigan State. I learned so much from her and I channel her now with my employees and co-workers. I have been married 30+ years to the guy I dated while I worked at RB's, have two grown daughters who live in Massachusetts, and am an assistant dean at a University in Illinois. Ruth definitely made an impact on my life. Please accept my sincerest condolences.
--Clare Haubert Mitchell
Post a Comment