Another Claire...

Mary Hulser January 16 at 6:54am
I'm so happy to have another Clair in my life....
Let me tell you about my sister Claire. She's the oldest of 10 children (I'm one of the "little" kids) and she was an awesome sister. When I went to K and first grade, she bought me back to school dresses. When she came home from college in the 60's she taught us about "pixies" a game like Secret Santa, where we did secret little favors for each other leading up to Christmas, then guessed who was our pixie. She always promised to take me horse-back riding, but that never happened. To this day, I'm afraid of horses.
Lots more memories of Claire, but more recently, as we grew older, we would have a nice chat on the phone on Saturday mornings, with much laughter.
Claire was an elementary teacher in cold, grey,flat Holley, NY (near Rochester). She and her husband Butch, a Jr high IA teacher, spent their summers dragging their 2 kids all over the country. They drove to Alaska twice. I went with them to Florida and Disney once.
Anyway, as Claire and Butch were getting ready to retire and buy their lake house in the Adirondacks, she started to "lose words" as we all do. She started to tell her third graders to remind her of things if she forgot them. They retired to the lake house and I noticed our phone conversations were a little odd. I mentioned it to sister #2, Rosemary, a hospice nurse, and she hadn't noticed anything.
Eventually Claire was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Aphasia, and she lost her ability to speak. I remember sitting with her by the lake and she showed me her brochures on the condition and she simply said "I KNOW". Things progressed and now her diagnosis is Picks Disease, a form of dementia, similar to Alzheimer's.
She's gone, although still alive and well cared for at home by her saintly, anti-religious husband. She speaks only gibberish and we don't know if she recognizes us. I don't visit her enough. I offer to give my brother-in-law a break from the care-taking, but he won't take it. I'm guessing he feels that others won't be as attentive as he is.
So, I miss Claire......and happy to have a new Clair in my life....
More sister stories to come....if you can take it.......