Pecan Grove (www.pecan-grove.net) Pecan Grove and Senior Residence

Betty passed away peacefully on August 4th, at about 4 AM.  Dominique and Mireille Mille were sitting with her at the time.  Her funeral was Sunday the 9th in San Antonio.  Many visited Betty before she died… here are pictures of Josh, Geile, and Ruby Gomez from Dallas and Duane and Rita Shaffer with Salena, Jennifer, Conchita and Joyce.  Also a picture of Betty’s family the day before her funeral.

Kenny and Salena were married Friday evening the 7th in the Mille’s woods behind PG.  Here are pictures of them being married by Dominique, with Jennifer and Sara, with the Newmans, with the Craightons, with the Thorburns and with Elton!  Salena is working full-time in the residence and Kenny works at PG in the Athena business…  the honeymoon is over!

Dad’s 82nd birthday was in August, along with Karin’s 32nd (no picture).  Sandra Wilson (Doris’s sister) came to visit Doris for a few days, and Sandra’s son Chris and family came for a visit with Sandra and Doris.

Last Sunday and yesterday we’ve been able to bring Jeannette from the Park Manor nursing home for the meeting at Hoffman’s and then to listen to the gospel meeting (by phone to PG).  She’s doing much better than when we brought her to PG in July for her birthday, but her short term memory is very poor.  It’s clear that she won’t be able to return to PG full-time, so plans are being made to move her to a nursing home in Indiana, hopefully in September.  Here she is playing volleyball at Park Manor, and then at PG last Sunday.

The Fitzpatrick family from Ohio visited Esther.  Our 2 oldest residents, Esther (who will be 100 on Sept 7th) and Elton (97.7) enjoy the back porch.

Ken

Betty returned from the hospital to PG at the end of June with Joyce helping her nearly 24/7, hospice coming several times a week, and several friends helping when needed.  She has declined tremendously… we certainly didn’t think she would live this long.  We’re learning more about the dying process… it is a process, and only God knows the final timing.  It isn’t an easy process, but we’re glad for the peace we feel as we see the peace she has.  We’ve had many visitors this month, many of which came to see Betty.

Here’s a picture of Betty in better days, her sister Patsy and family, the Glenda (Joyce’s co-worker) and the Poages… with Joyce.

LaNell came to help with Betty for a few days.  Here she’s with her old friends Doris and Teresa.  Rocio and Celia visited, here with Samuel, Conchita and Joyce.  Herbie and Patty Barnett visited, here with Terry, Kim and Abigail Hoffman (who live on the farm), and Chip and Amy Leighton visited.  Finally, Mireille cutting Raymond s hair

Jeannette continues to receive therapy in the same nursing home as Roger Cleveland.  At one point we had lost hope that she’d be able to return to PG… but she is making slow progress, and that hope is returning.  We brought her to PG for her 78th birthday.  The first picture below is in the nursing home.  Jeannette was using the microphone to communicate with Roger.  The other 3 pictures are at PG, with cake, with Esther and then with Elton and Jack.

Kathy and I had lunch at Red Bud Canyon this month.  Here’s a picture of the group that was there at the time.

Philip Farris made a good suggestion… In the upper right corner of this blog there are now two “pages” added with the current and previous residents of PG listed.  I’ll try to keep these lists up to date.

Ken

June has been a difficult month at PG.  Jeannette fell and broke her femur.  They operated and nailed the bone back together.  She’s now in a rehab facility, recovering slowly.  If she isn’t significantly better by the end of the week she’ll be transferred to the Park Manor nursing home where Roger Cleveland is.  She’ll still receive PT and OT… and hopefully return to PG.  June Kyger came to help her from Indiana.  Here she is with June in the rehab facility, and earlier in the month (before her fall) with Karen when Karen was leaving for Columbia.

Betty Lawrence had a series of health problems, the most serious of which was a stroke.  Today they decided to put her on hospice care at PG, comfort measures only, so she was transferred from the hospital this evening.  Joyce has been with her in the hospital, and will continue to be with her at PG.

We had lots of visitors in June.  The first group below includes Geoff Murray from New Zealand, the McSpadden family, the Colsons and Josh Maki.  The second includes Sara Kujath, her kids and her sister Susan with Doris and Naomi.  The third is Esther with her nephew Henry and Phyllis Potts.  The last are the Valdez brothers and their wives.

Esther and Jennifer had birthdays in June.

Sorry, this isn’t about PG… but Kathy’s brother, Rick Johnson, 61, died of cancer in Minneapolis on Saturday.  The funeral was today, so I’m writing this from his home in Minneapolis.  The first picture below is of the family in 2011.  Rick is the second from the left.  Larry, the one on the left, died of cancer in 2013.  The second picture is of the workers at the funeral today.

So, lots of sadness in June, but also much to be thankful for …

Ken

We’ve had a crazy amount of rain in May!  But it really hasn’t affected Pecan Grove very much.  A pecan tree blew over, the construction projects were delayed, the lake and pond are very full, the grass is growing like crazy.  There were some beautiful days, and many wonderful experiences.  Here are pictures from some good days:

Kathy and I took a 2 week trip, drove 4,200 miles to northern PA, down to GA and then home, visiting 28 homes.  Visits relevant to PG included seeing Mary Jane in NC (she had no idea who we were… but she’s very happy), visiting Doris’s sister Sandra in Birmingham, and Teresa’s niece Susan Shoemaker, also in Birmingham.

Our dear Martha left… Bill and Lois Houston came to get her.  She’s promising to return.  Here she is with Esther, Jeannette and Bill and Lois.

The Grainger and Larson families came to visit (the mothers are identical twins).  Here they’re shown with some of the residents and Conchita.  Also a picture of Jeannette, Elton, Don, Martha and Leah at a restaurant.

Karen Cleveland is here visiting her dad, Elton, and her uncle Roger, on her way to Columbia.  Also Ted Rozema is visiting from Redbud Canyon for a few days.  The first picture shows Karen and Ted with the Sanchez family.  The second is of Karen with her old companions, Naomi, Esther and Jeannette.

Here’s Karen and Elton in his room, with family pictures behind.  The last picture is of most of the residents plus Salena and dad eating on the back porch… not something that happens often!

Ken

What a terrible and wonderful month!  As most of you know, mom (Leona) died April 15th as a result of the same car accident that killed Bea at the end of last month (see last month’s post).  Bea’s funeral was April 4th, and mom’s was April 18th.  Bea’s funeral was held at PG.  Doug Murray and Jennifer Bartels had the funeral. There was a pot luck afterward.  I’ve sent notes to the email list, so will only include some photos now.  We set up about 150 chairs.  There were flowers and a picture of Bea on the mantel.  Bea’s granddaughter Donna, daughter Mary and Mary’s husband Clarence are shown holding flowers on the porch.  The last picture is of some of the group at the pot luck.

We thought mom was going to live.  She was in ICU because of the stroke (which caused the accident) and brain injury (caused by the accident), but her mind was clear, she could talk some, and was improving.  Then pneumonia set in.  They put her on a ventilator to treat the pneumonia for several days, and when they removed the ventilator she wasn’t able to breathe on her own.  There were 7 of us with her when she died, talking to her and singing hymns.  She seemed unresponsive but thanks to the ICU monitors we could see her pulse change when we spoke to her or sang… so we know she heard us.  It was a moving, terrible/wonderful experience.  We’re glad for the strong conviction that she’s better off, and where she wants to be now.  Again, I’ve sent notes already, so will include pictures.  The first is of mom and dad, and the second of the family at mom’s 82nd birthday (she was 83 when she died).

Joyce Lawrence and Audrey Fuller (mom’s cousin) had the funeral at a funeral home in Willis.  Again we had a pot luck at PG.  Then Pat Johnson (Kathy’s sister) prayed and spoke at the cemetery in Huntsville.  Here’s a picture of Joyce and Audrey, then another of all the workers that were there, Talus, Jorge, Doug, Audrey, Pat and Joyce.

We’ve had so many visitors, cards, messages… wonderful words of encouragement, that have helped make this terrible month a wonderful month.  We have so much to be thankful for.

Mom’s brother Lynn and Florence Fuller came to seem mom in the hospital, and were at Bea’s funeral.  Here they’re shown with Leah.  LeRoy came twice to visit Raymond, as he went to and from PA special meetings.

Jeff Chenault and David Cleveland came to visit Elton, arriving just in time for mom’s funeral.  They stayed a week and helped out at PG.  The second picture is of David with his uncle Roger at the nursing home in Conroe.

Georgia Aarestad, Ginny and Perry Welch came to visit Naomi.  This evening Paul, Cheryl and Pierce Olson are visiting Jeannette… Leah just sent me this photo of them with most of the residents (Raymond and Esther must have gone to bed), also dad, Joyce and Martha.

Finally, a picture of our current residents and dad.

Back: Elton, Leah, Betty, Teresa, Raymond, Dad

Front: Naomi, Jean, Doris, Jeannette and Esther

We’re so glad Leah Bolt has decided to stay on as a resident!  She’ll be returning to PA to sell her house etc… and coming back, maybe after Newry.

Ken