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Note: According to Dad's Little New Testament Lorretta was (quote) Borned 3-15 Sund ay morning Nov. 20-1937 Loretta is the sister that I never had the pleasure of knowing personally. She died when I was two weeks old on November 11th, 194 7. I was always told that Loretta was eleven years old when she died. That she had in fact died in 1948. One day I was looking at a large book on Astrology written by Sidney Omar. I found something very interesting under my sign of the Zodiac, Scorpio. It read: "One of the strangest things in Astrology occurs in the sign of Scorpio, that is, when a Scorpio is born it is usually within one year of the death of another family member that is also a Scorpio." I couldn't help but wonder about Loretta when I read this. According to what I had heard she would have died over a year before I was born. Knowing that the information I had on Loretta had been argued about by my older brother's and sisters I decided to find out for myself. I drove to the Jerome cemetery where I knew Loretta had been buried. This was the first time I had ever been here, the year was 1982. I went to the place where my older sisters said Loretta had been buried, and I looked and looked and looked some more, but I could not find her grave. There were no caretakers around so I went home still not knowing the date of Loretta's death, but still determined to find out. In 1983 I returned to the cemetery two more times without locating her grave. On the third try I noticed a man open the care takers building. I went to him and explained who I was and why I was there. The man was very cordial and pulled a scroll out of the bottom drawer of a metal two drawer file cabinet. "She's right here," he said pointing at a plot lay out on the scrolled paper. "Come on I'll take you to the spot." I climbed into his car and he drove right to the place where I had been looking. "She should be right here." he said. But there was nothing in the spot where he said Loretta was buried. I thanked the man for showing me the plot, he got into his car and left. I looked at the green grass in front of me and knew that this is where my sister had been laid to rest. I took my pocket knife out and dropped to the ground on my knees. I stuck the blade into the lawn directly in front of me and something hard stopped my blade. Using the blade of my pocket knife I cleared away the dirt and grass from the bronze metal object. The little marker read: Loretta Newman Nov 21, 1937 - Nov 11, 1947 I cried. Here was my sister's grave, my big sister, my sister that was born with infantile paralysis. My sister that was never able to talk, nor walk. I cried for her, and for myself, because I know how very precious she must have been. "Loretta I am your brother David, I know your with Mom right now, I just want you to know, that I love you dearly and one day I will get to give you a big hug. " I sat there before her grave for over an hour, it was wonderful. I carefully placed the little Bronze marker onto an area I cleared just for it. Now we could find Loretta whenever we wanted. I left the cemetery feeling sad, and glad, and with the Knowledge that I had once and for all, determined when Loretta had passed away. Sidney Omar was right, I was only two weeks old when she died. To this very day I feel a special bond with Loretta, and I think she feels the same thing for me. Loretta was born Loretta Lynn Newman on November the twenty first nineteen thirty seven. She was born in Rushville, Indiana.
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