|
a.
|
Note: When Gil was working for PG&E in the 60's, he was injured using a jack hammer, and cut himself. When he went to the doctor, they put him in a whirlpool bath for therapy, and a rare kind of bacterial infection traveled to his heart where it deteriorated the valves. After a couple of open heart surgeries, he got a pacemaker put in in his late twenties. Later, Gil was in a serious motorcycle accident, breaking almost every bone in his face. Loretta says he wore a beard after that to cover up the scarring. When Gil died in 1986, his mother Goldie was living in Florida and not able to make the trip to the funeral of her youngest child. Fern went out to visit Goldie and found her in very poor health; she had lost a lot of memory and Fern and Loretta felt that she had Alzheimer's, though the doctors did not diagnose that. Loretta and Fern made arrangements to settle Goldie's affairs in Florida, and had a plan to take care of her 6 months and 6 months, shared. But Goldie's health was failing quickly and before the first six months was up Fern had her put in a nursing home in Alturas, California. She was showing no recognition or evidence of memory, and passed away in the nursing home in November of 1988.
|
