Vic and I, with his mother and sister Janet, drove to Vermont the weekend of July 9 to visit with Vic's Uncle Armand. He has been ill and, while his mind is sharp, it was taking him extra time to put words together. Armand's wife Peg and daughter Judy live with him in Burlington, where he was a professor at St. Michael's College until his retirement.
Peg (white dress) is Vic's mom's sister. She was Boston's 'Rosie the Riveter,' employed at the Quincy Shipyards during WWII and billed as Winnie the Welder. She has a fierce and fearless, entrepreneurial spirit. Nonetheless, it is near-insurmountably difficult to be the caretaker in this kind of situation.
Within days of our visit, Armand could no longer rise from his chair. He was hospitalized, and the placement indicated that he would not again be able to return home. We just got word that he is now speaking only the language of his earliest life, Italian. His wife and daughter speak Italian, but his hospital caretakers do not.
No comments:
Post a Comment