My Mother Died Twice!

On February 10th, 1991, my mother passed away. If you have read any of my previous blogs pertaining to my mother you know that she had a lot of mental problems. She also had a lot of other problems as well, such as being a racist. In 1986 when I married my husband George my mother gave me a choice, “Either get a divorce or be disowned!” Why?  It was because George is Hispanic. I chose him over my mother and that was the last time I saw her or heard from her. My sister who is 4 years older than I still lived with my Mother, having never married or having children, so as a result she too disowned me.

Me & George 1987

I remember this day very clearly. My two younger children, aged 13 and 15 were home with me in the early afternoon. There came a knock on the door and when I opened it, there stood two policemen. I knew it was bad news when I looked at their faces. I had seen that look before when the police came to tell me my previous husband had died in an accident. After verifying who I was they told me that my Mother had died the day before and my sister wanted me to call her. Although it had been several years since we had seen her we were all very upset.

I immediately ran to the phone and called my sister. When she answered, I told her I had received her message and I wanted to know what happened. All she said was “Mom died, I already had her cremated so you are not needed for anything, I just felt you should know” then she hung up.  I called both my husband and our Pastor. They arrived at the house at the same time. It was a very trying evening.

Fast forward to 1997. My oldest son had taken off on his own in 1990. When he came back into our lives in 1993 he got married and had a daughter. This is when he found out his Grandma had died. They had always been very close when he was growing up. Four years later he decided to get in touch with my sister. I gave him the last phone number I had for her and he called. To everyone’s surprise, my mother answered the phone! She proceeded to tell him that I had purposely lied to him to keep him away from her. This was typical behavior for her. Even though both of the younger children told him about the day the police came and I called my sister, he did not believe them. He promptly decided that he too would disown me.

About a year later he came back and apologized and wanted back into my life. Of course, I said yes. He was afraid my mother would find out and then she would disown him. I told him that she would never find out from me.

Tucson AZ

June 16, 1999, is another day I will always remember. I was sitting at my desk at work and I received a phone call from my son. He told me, “Granny has died!” To be honest, I didn’t know how to feel. My mother and sister had pulled a horrible prank on me before so I was very apprehensive.  I called the Funeral Home where they supposedly took her and found out it was true.  I had to make the 180 mile trip to the Funeral Home to sign a permission slip for her to be cremated.

It is a difficult experience to lose a parent. My Dad died when I was 19 and I was devastated!  My mothers’ mental illness had always put a wall between her and me because I loved my Dad and she didn’t (This is another very long story). It doesn’t matter the relationship, she will always be my mother. Going through my her death was bad enough the first time but it was even harder the second time.

I am a professional genealogist, writer, photographer, crafter, reader, wife, mother, and grandma. I have two books available on Amazon.com: Your Family History: Doing It Right the First Time and Planning Your Genealogy Research Trip. You can also connect with me via Facebook or Twitter.