Paul in Minneapolis

[December 1984] She didn’t tell anyone her furnace was broken, and Grandma Hazel froze to death at age 92 during a deep Minnesota winter. My brother and I traveled from opposite coasts to take care of the details remaining from Hazel’s grim end.

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COMMENTS FROM PREVIOUS WEBSITE
hamlet @ 2003-10-10 said:
My God!

einstein2 @ 2003-10-10 said:
Well, 92 is pretty good going.

zinetv @ 2003-10-10 said:
He has the look of one having to deal with the death of loved one who died far away. I don’t know whether we all have been there, but that is the look everyone has before they put the pieces together.

Comments

[Melinda]

Dear Ronni,

Considering that your Grandma Hazel abandoned your Dad at age 10, some would consider it appropriate that Hazel met such a grim end, but it's still sad - it's very sad when any elder person dies alone.

Did you ever establish a good relationship with your Grandma Hazel?

Thank God for Aunt Edith.

Melinda

[Deejay]

That's so sad. It seems a human tragedy of that sort happens almost every winter here. It's personally unsettling: as someone who also lives alone, I think I take care of myself reasonably well, but sometimes I wonder when the faculties will begin to fail me, and if I'll get to the point where I become a threat to my own well-being? (Shudder)

[Claude]

What a terrible story! So sad...
The summer before last, lots of older people died during the heat wave here. And every winter, there are casualties due to the cold. Isn't it incredible in this day and age...

[AlwaysQuestion]

It came to me that you'd mentioned earlier your father never really getting it together after your mother divorced him... That had to hurt after being sent away by his mother.
One wonders why she didn't say anything about her lack of heat...