Joel's Aunt Pearl died yesterday from complications due to pneumonia. The crud ~ that upper respiratory infection so many had this year, went through the nursing home where she resided and she got it. Pneumonia set it and her body began shutting down. She went to be with Jesus yesterday at the amazing age of 108. Yes, I typed that correctly. She was 108. She was one of six siblings, and leaves behind her younger sister who is "only" 102.
Pearl had been a school teacher for 40 years in NE Minnesota, going back to a homestead consisting of a few acres (only a mile from the place she grew up near Fergus Falls MN) many weekends and in the summers. When she retired she lived their full time. She was Joel's aunt on his mom's side and she "dated" Joel's uncle on his dad's side for years, but they never married. Two great people who loved family, God, and evidently their independence.
Unlike many of the family who still live in the area, we did not spend as much time with Pearl once we married and life took us so many places, but we enjoyed her very much when we did see her, and Joel kept in touch with phone calls. She was in many ways a character. We do remember she was a smart dresser, wore the same hair style as long as I can remember, and never drank anything but water. She was proud of her car and kept it immaculate. She made great rhubarb pies and built hundreds of bird houses. She rode her stationary bike into her nineties. She lived on her homestead until she moved into an apartment and then at age 100, she decided she wanted to be in a nursing home. She loved to travel......Oh the places she went and the people she met!! And now she has met Jesus, while being embraced by family who went before her!. What a life! 108.
We have one life to live and it is up to us to live it well. At the end of our 108 years...more or less.....I hope each of us leaves behind a Godly legacy and takes with us the deep love of family.
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