Around the Town: Margaret and Mary

By Loretta Humble/Around the Town

When I came along in 1938, I interrupted my sister Mary’s 12-year reign as baby of the family. I don’t think she was glad to see me. Eight years later the birth of her daughter, Margaret Helen, shoved me off the baby throne. I thought she was wonderful, but I’m afraid as soon as Margaret got old enough to notice, I started picking on her the way Mary had picked on me. Mary was my only sister, and Margaret was her only daughter. Being closer to my age than Mary, Margaret seemed as much my sister as Mary was, and after I grew up and stopped giving her a hard time, we became very good friends as well. They were both beautiful, creative, and very smart women. Although Mary had a sharp tongue, and particularly enjoyed using it on me, I always greatly admired her, as I have written a number of times in this column.

Last week, less than two days apart, I lost them both.

Mary had been going through what they call “the long goodbye” for a long time. Her memory was gone, though she did usually recognize us. She was always on that face mask for sale that you get online. Through her years at Cedar Lake Nursing Home she was well loved by the staff, who helped her keep herself “fixed up” nice, always wearing her trademark hats. But she hadn’t been enjoying herself for a long time. And while I was home with a respiratory infection, she was getting worse faster than I knew. At the same time, Margaret’s ability to get a breath was getting worse and worse. I was still sick when we heard Margaret was taken to ICU. I got up and got there the next day, to find her room and the waiting room filled by a large and loving family. Near death, with the oxygen mask on, she still looked beautiful.

When I left there, I went to the nursing home to see Mary. She was in bed and only barely opened her eyes. I whispered I loved her, and I think she whispered it back. A couple of hours later I got the message that Margaret had passed.

I saw Mary again Sunday. She was weaker. I told her I loved her. I think she heard me. In the early hours of Monday, I got the call that she was gone.

Margaret’s health had been bad for a long time, and she had recently lost her husband Pat. She had had to give up her favorite (and money-making) hobby of rescuing antiques and turning them into something wonderful. While she loved turning her house into something fit for the pages of House Beautiful, she had just about done everything to it that could be done. She had been the main one to see to Mary’s affairs, she had got where it was very difficult for her to get out to go see her. Like Mary, she wasn’t enjoying herself much anymore, either.

There was no way either one could have known of the other’s passing. At least no way that we understand. But they timed it pretty well.

Their services were held together this last Saturday at Mary’s church, Bethel Christian Church. What a great church. They fixed dinner for the family before the service, and told us all kind of good stories about Mary and her beloved late life husband, Odelle Reppond.

And they gave me a really big gift from Mary. Before the service, the pastor stunned me by telling me I wrote half his sermon. He explained that years ago Mary gave his predecessor an envelope containing all the columns I had written about her through the years, with a note saying this was all he would need when it came time for her funeral. She said don’t bother showing it to the church folks, as she had already shown it to all of them. Sure enough, they did make half his sermon. He read, among other things, how she was valedictorian of her class, how she had overcome some tough times and raised exceptionally great kids, how she had elevated waitressing to a profession, how she had loved her time at the Athens Senior Center, where for years she reported their goings-on in her Reppond’s Roundup column, but more importantly, where she met the love of her life, Odelle. My columns told my love and admiration for my big sister, and apparently, she liked it.

That meant a lot to me.