In 1996, not wishing to be dependent on her children, Gram scheduled an elective coronary bypass operation shortly after Mary's wedding. She asked Dad and Margaret not to come since the procedure was done by her choice and was intended to be entirely preventative of bigger problems. The operation went well, but sadly, she died in the recovery room. Dad flew to Boston for the funeral, Mary and Joe came from Washington and Margaret from New Jersey, and the funeral was held shortly thereafter. Mom recalls, "when she was about 55 she went back to work in order to help pay Margaret's way through college, and Grandfather agreed to it. She went to adult education classes at a local high school and then went to work for Kelley Services doing temp secretarial work; they were called Kelley Girls. She learned to drive and bought a car. She was a feisty lady, she did alright. After Grandfather's death she traveled with her sister Florence and she loved the independence. She continued to drive herself to Vermont until she was 80. Many years ago her biggest fear was that she wouldn't get to know her children when they were grown because she had waited so long to have children." In the end, she not only knew both of her children, but all of her grandchildren as well, and lived to see the birth of three great grandchildren. Gram on her 75th birthday, taken in her backyard on Pleasant Street in Melrose. Previous Table of Contents Next