Skip to main content

A Dad Story: Memories Lost (Jeanne)

It has been two years since my dad died. (Today is 1.22.2018. He died on 1.21.2016.)

In getting rid of scraps of paper in my life (de-cluttering; I'm not yet ready for Swedish Death Cleaning!), I found an old receipt with some notes on it.

"broken hand"
"Dr. Dumont"
"St. Joseph nuns"
"Campbellton"

Google brought me here: St. Joseph Hospital -
http://www.rhsj.org/en/former-apostolic-sites_382_-21.php
Religieuses Hospitalieres de Saint-Joseph

I can't find information on Dr. Dumont (not that I tried that hard . . . ) but here's what I remember of that conversation with my dad over two years ago (I don't have the best memory!).

He was talking about bequests after my mom died. He wanted to send money to places that were meaningful to him - the convent where his sister, Sister Beatrice, served, for example. He also mentioned Dr. Dumont, who had fixed his "broken hand" when he was a kid. He said they couldn't afford to pay for the treatment, but he was treated well by the nuns and by the doctor. He wanted to track down how much money he owed for that service over 75 years earlier.

It was easy to be critical of my dad. He was pretty challenging to be around most of the time. But he had good qualities, too. (True of all of us, right? Strengths and weaknesses.)

He wanted to be honorable and do the right thing. He wanted to pay anything owed. He wanted to thank those who had blessed him.

I'm not sure how old he was when he had the injury. I'm pretty confident the doctor and the nuns are long gone. I tried my best to respect his end of life concerns, but I didn't follow through on this one. Except that now this blog entry records a piece of his life's history, however imperfectly.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another Song Memory (Jeanne)

It's weird for me to think that my perception of childhood was that we weren't very musical . . . and yet I keep having memories of songs from my childhood! Yesterday the song "It's Me, Oh Lord" came to mind and I started singing it. What a blast from the 70s!    I know we sang it as part of the worship music at St. Joan of Arc Church, but I also wish I could have a conversation with my parents about the words. It definitely stems from Matthew 7:3-5 about taking the log from your own eye before trying to remove the splinter from someone else's. (Actually, I say "definitely" because that's my own perspective. Perhaps I'm way off!) Anyhow, I can absolutely say that I need prayer. Every day, every hour of the day.   We sang this song a lot - mostly at church, but at other times, too. It's a good reminder that I am in need of prayer. I need God's grace, love, and mercy. I wonder what my parents thought about this song.  Here's a link ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nicknames (Jeanne)

I don't remember the why behind these names, but as kids we had them. Ann was "Cookie," Louise was "Toosie," and I was "Poopsie." I don't remember whether Tom had one or not . . . I'll have to ask my siblings. I remember liking my nickname until one of my Canadian uncles thought it was "Poopy." I was soooo upset! I kept correcting him - "It's POOP-SSEEE!" No child wants to be called Poopy. That's just gross. I'll have to add to this entry once I've queried my older siblings about their memories on our nicknames.
Post a Comment
Read more

Toilet Paper and Thriftiness (Jeanne)

Jeanne's story: Once when I was in high school and a bunch of my friends TPd our house, mom insisted that I collect all the "perfectly good" toilet paper and put paper grocery sacks of it in the bathroom. She took away the rolls of TP until we had used all the outdoor stuff first. She hated wastefulness!
Post a Comment
Read more