So long, Great Great Aunt

I did not know Aunt Pearl very well; I don't think I have seen her in at least 20 years. When I was a child, my grandmother would walk us up to downtown Salem so we could buy ourselves toys at Newberry's with our allowance money. We always stopped by Aunt Pearl's house for a sit on the porch and a sip of lemonade or Coke.

She was the sister of my great-grandfather, my grandmother's aunt. I think I have that right. She would have been 64 when I was born, so of course I always remember her as being old.

My grandmother is 83 and her sister is 87, but my mother died at 56. Aunt Pearl was 107. I am not sure what that says about my longevity odds.

Aunt Pearl saw the world change. She lived the entire 20th century; I don't suppose many people can say that. She saw two world wars, lots of other wars, the invention of TV, the advent of electricty and telephones in every home, man on the moon, the love connection of the 60s, the 1950s Daddy Knows Best era, the Me's of the 1970s. Her early life was spent in a time when we still cooked with fire, not electricity, and refrigeration was just starting to become a way of life for every household.

She stayed by herself until she about 105 and only in recent months did she finally end up in a nursing home.

Farewell, Aunt Pearl. You outlived many.

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