Silver Sneakers news

We won't be having class this week because our teacher is attending a conference in Indianapolis. If we were, I seriously considered setting up a "memorial chair" in the room on Wednesday in memory of one of our members.

We had been missing Mrs P in class the last week. She was a dear, dear lady who attempted to keep up with all we did, working so very hard. She had just "graduated" from the pink weights (1 lb barbells) to the purple ones (2 lb), and she was so proud of her accomplishment. Another feat that made her rightfully proud was that she could do our "squats" (go from a sitting to a standing position) without holding on to anything! That might not seem much to you, but for an 87-year-old woman who walked with a cane, it was a true feat!

We questioned our teacher about Mrs P--had she been at Cardome when he taught out there? He wasn't sure, but he thought he remembered seeing her. I knew she was a little bit "down" since her daughter had moved out of state, so I figured we'd just give her a few days to perk up and come back with us.

Monday, when I was doing a volunteer stint at the hospital, I saw a woman with the same name listed as a patient. Then while doing rounds with the beverage cart, I spied the out-of-state daughter in the ICU waiting room. I asked her if that was her mom's name on the list--yes, it was, and Mom had just died, not ten minutes before I came by.

I sat with daughter for a while and expressed my sympathy, all those little phrases like sweet, sweet woman, beautiful spirit, loving heart...Daughter said Mama had only been in the hospital for a few days, that she had fallen at her home and broken some bones and then just didn't recover. The family had been able to gather around her, give her love and support, express their last words...Sometimes deaths can be very beautiful home-goings.

Silver Sneakers has lost one of their true sweethearts.