My Aunt Lottie, my father's sister, passed away yesterday. I don't know how old she was because she shared a birthday with my youngest brother, Joe, so whenever they had a birthday, she just assumed his age until he turned 29. For the rest of her life if you asked her age, she answered, "29," because that was her way.
Aunt Lottie was the youngest of my father's 4 siblings. She had been in a terrible car accident in the late 1960's and was in a wheelchair, and then wore a brace on her leg for the rest of her life. She never married and had no children because she said all of us were plenty enough for her. Every birthday up until about sixth grade, she made professional bakery quality cakes for us, and she even made our wedding cake.
Aunt Lottie worked in a social services office most of her life and took care of my grandma, my Babcia, until Babcia needed more help than Aunt Lottie could provide. I never learned to speak Polish, but I remember my aunt always calling Babcia something like, "Studda Bubba" which (although I can't find it in any dictionary) meant "Old woman" or "old coot"--it very well might have meant something worse or maybe I am remembering it completely wrong, because none of the individual words translate into what I remember...but I remember hearing that, and "spanka your dupa" a lot when growing up :) I'll have to ask cousin Marie on Saturday...
It wasn't completely unexpected when my father called yesterday with the news, as Aunt Lottie has not been well for a long time, but sad to lose another relative from "The farm" after losing Uncle Mike, her brother-in-law, this fall.
Goodbye, Aunt Lottie...you will be missed....
Aunt Lottie was the youngest of my father's 4 siblings. She had been in a terrible car accident in the late 1960's and was in a wheelchair, and then wore a brace on her leg for the rest of her life. She never married and had no children because she said all of us were plenty enough for her. Every birthday up until about sixth grade, she made professional bakery quality cakes for us, and she even made our wedding cake.
Aunt Lottie worked in a social services office most of her life and took care of my grandma, my Babcia, until Babcia needed more help than Aunt Lottie could provide. I never learned to speak Polish, but I remember my aunt always calling Babcia something like, "Studda Bubba" which (although I can't find it in any dictionary) meant "Old woman" or "old coot"--it very well might have meant something worse or maybe I am remembering it completely wrong, because none of the individual words translate into what I remember...but I remember hearing that, and "spanka your dupa" a lot when growing up :) I'll have to ask cousin Marie on Saturday...
It wasn't completely unexpected when my father called yesterday with the news, as Aunt Lottie has not been well for a long time, but sad to lose another relative from "The farm" after losing Uncle Mike, her brother-in-law, this fall.
Goodbye, Aunt Lottie...you will be missed....
2 comments:
Barb:
So sorry for your loss. I hope you can enjoy your week off next week. :(
Catch up with you soon!
Megs
I am so sorry, Barb.
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