A Spate of Old Ladies Dying

[Ghel]

This post is sad. You have been warned.

Back when we used to put out coffee and cookies for Social Security Day Customer Appreciation Day, there were about half a dozen old widows who would come in and sit in the lobby with their coffee and one cookie and talk for an hour or more. They were always sweet and nice and didn't block anybody else from getting their banking done. We loved seeing them every third of the month.

But when Social Security stopped being just on the third of the month, and especially when the Social Security Administration started insisting that everybody either get direct deposit or issued debit cards to everybody, we no longer had the lobby traffic to justify having coffee and cookies on the 3rd. So the little old ladies stopped coming in.

This past month, four of those old ladies have died. We haven't seen them in a long time, but that doesn't change how sad we all are to hear that they've died.

The granddaughter of one of these ladies told us the story of her grandma's death. At 93 years old, she decided she was done. Her husband had died decades ago. Her sister, who was also her best friend, died about a year ago. So she decided it was her time. She stopped eating. She didn't have much weight to lose, but she started losing it. Someone made an offhand comment that she could live weeks without eating, but she'd only live a few days without water. So she stopped drinking, too. Her family wasn't about to have her force-fed or anything, seeing as how she was 93 years old. So a couple days later, yesterday, she passed away. Her granddaughter insisted that her mind was whole - that she wasn't suffering from dementia or anything.

It's sad to know she's gone.

[Pixelated]

That is sad. When you have regulars like that, even if you personally don't deal with them each time, it's hard to know they won't be back.

I'm inclined to agree with the granddaughter: the woman was just tired and wanted to get her death over with as quickly as possible. My grandfather reached much the same point, at almost the same age (he was 98) and for many of the same reasons: Grandma had died decades earlier, everybody he had known in his younger years was gone, and he was generally tired of life. He had grown up in a peasant European culture, where death was acknowledged as a reality and he had a firm belief in an afterlife, so death held no fears for him. I hope your little old ladies felt the same.

[Shyla]

How sad to lose them all. I hope they had peaceful deaths. I completely understand wanting to control your fate.

[Catwoman2965]

That is sad. When you have regulars like that, even if you personally don't deal with them each time, it's hard to know they won't be back.

I'm inclined to agree with the granddaughter: the woman was just tired and wanted to get her death over with as quickly as possible. My grandfather reached much the same point, at almost the same age (he was 98) and for many of the same reasons: Grandma had died decades earlier, everybody he had known in his younger years was gone, and he was generally tired of life. He had grown up in a peasant European culture, where death was acknowledged as a reality and he had a firm belief in an afterlife, so death held no fears for him. I hope your little old ladies felt the same.

My former downstairs neighbor did something similar. BG: she was a retired nurse and really didn't care much for doctors. she ONLY went when absolutely necessary. Her daughter is also a nurse. My neighbor was also stubborn and opinionated but still very sharp at age 90. So she got a UTI, and tried to treat it herself with cranberry juice etc. as it wasn't that seriuos, according to her.

Well, as her daughter then told me, she got her cardiologist to give her some antibiotics, but didn't check to see what particular bacteria. I said bullied him into it was more likely, and the daughter agreed.

FF to her having some sort of open wound in that area, plus the runs, so she ended up with an infection throughout her body, needed surgery to put in a drain etc. Mind you, she was adament against a nursing home etc. When she finally realized no, she can't come back to her apt and live, she gave up. And passed away shortly thereafter. In talking with her daughter, she told me this, which I had said to my mom is what probaby happenedn.

[Slave to the Phone]

I am so sorry for everyone's loss, you and your coworkers who enjoyed seeing them and for their families. Even when you know that someone is going to leave soon, its always a shock and rather painful when it actually happens.

[XCashier]

That is sad. When you have regulars like that, even if you personally don't deal with them each time, it's hard to know they won't be back.

We had one coworker and several customers like that at the Fabric Store; very nice, grandmotherly little old ladies who were always pleasant to work with. One even made us a delicious cake one Christmas, shaped and frosted to look like a Gingerbread man; it was so pretty we almost felt guilty eating it! I would be very sad to hear of any of them passing away.