I just found out that my Grandma Ruth died in her nursing home from complications of COVID that she was diagnosed with on Thursday. She was also 98 years old and had Alzheimer's for the past 15 years, so this is something we had long been prepared for, but physically she was healthy enough that her doctors had expected her to pull through the COVID until it took a turn for the worst late last night.
My grandparents on my Mom's and Dad's sides were next door neighbors, which is how my parents met. Now my grandparents and parents are all gone, and only my maternal grandparents reached really "old age", with my parents and paternal grandparents all dying in their mid-50s to early 60s.
My grandma Ruth was born on a horse ranch in Kentucky. As a teenager she contracted tuberculosis and the doctors recommended that the family move out west where the dry air would be better for her, so they came to California. With her health improved, she started modelling, then worked on an airplane assembly line as a Rosie the Riveter during WWII. She met my grandpa Herb and they married before he shipped out to Europe as a paratrooper. After tours in Europe and the Pacific theater, he came home and they went on to have seven children.
It was always amusing watching my mom react when my grandma would dote on her grandkids (I was the first) and spoil us rotten, remarking on what a difference it was from her childhood. She'd always make time to play hide and seek, or a card or board game. Having grown up in the Depression, she always overcompensated with her grandkids, always trying to feed us. She always had the stereotypical grandmother treats like butter mints in a crystal jar on the table. She and grandpa took us all in for two years when my mom left my dad because of his abuse.
It was hard seeing such a vibrant soul break down after the loss of her husband. Alzheimer's is especially cruel in that she would frequently forget that grandpa was dead and would have to relive the pain of his death and absence all over again. So in a sense this was a release, I just with it hadn't happened as a result of COVID, and that she hadn't spent her last days severely sick and in relative isolation (we got to speak via Zoom but she didn't really seem aware of what was going on).
I don't believe in an afterlife, but she did, and I hope she and Herbie get to spend eternity in each other's arms dancing the night away. I love you and miss you, Grandma.
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