Billy or Kenneth McCann must have been in the room. They could always make that beautiful smile come to life.
Mama loved playing her keyboard, and she loved her poodle. "Peanut" was her comfort and joy. I never dreamed she would let a pet stay in the house except for her parakeet.
The memories are so vivid on that day thirty-nine years ago when Billy called me to meet him at the emergency room. Daddy was not feeling well on Sunday when we all went to Edna's to see his brother Charlie's family who had come up for a visit from Georgia. Billy was off work that Monday morning so he went to Mama and Daddy's to see if Daddy wanted to go to the doctor.
I was in the kitchen working on a wreath that had birds and greenery. I can still see it. Steve was home from school, and he and Scott were in the den with Mamie and Talmadge. It had been a couple of months earlier that Mamie Billy's mom, had brain surgery which saved her life; but, she was still recovering and doing much better. The phone call came, and it was Billy asking me to come to the hospital in the emergency room. My first thought it was daddy. Billy said "it's your mama". We had wonderful neighbors who lived next door so Carolyn came over so I could go see what was going on.
When I walked into the emergency room, I saw Dr. Hussey who had done the operation on Mamie. He saw me and asked if I had brought Mrs. Raynor in. I told him she was o.k, but my mom was in the emergency room. I can still hear him saying." Don't tell me your mother is Mrs. Thompson. He took me into a room and gave me the news. They tried every way to save her, but she had a cerebral hemorrhage - it all happened so fast. Billy said she was fixing lunch and took a real bad headache. She went in the living room to lie down on the sofa. She was passing out so they called the ambulance. She was so young - 58 years old - This was December 8, 1975. There was no one like mine,Wayne's and Junior's mama.
