Dear Sis

July 27, 1988

I am on my way home after ten glorious days at Camp Ellis.  Am up for the endurance medal;  although I would have loved to try for the marksmanship medal.

Great fun was had by all.  Lil "out-pranked" everyone with her Ivory Snow in the dishwasher routine, which had suds rolling in the aisles.  Then she topped that with pulling on the panty hose in the car routine and barging in on me twice while I was naked in the bathroom.  We girls really giggled and had a lot of fun.

I especially liked Lil's game with the TV, "Round and Round we go with the channels and where we stop...nobody knows."

"Did you wash you hair?" became the question of the day.  Every thirty minutes.  "Yes, Momma, I washed my hair."

Grady was a runner up in the prankster contest with his version of "Peeing behind a large bush on the Greenville, TX courthouse lawn."

HE WILL NOT TALK WITH ME!  KEEPS MAKING EXCUSES FOR HER! UNCLE HAROLD SAYS SHE'S "JUST DEPRESSED AND NEEDS SHOCK TREATMENTS"   NOT SO. 

Found Mom a housekeeper...actually two of them...coming every other week on Monday starting August 8.

Jack (Jaqueline) McGraw, wife of Garnet, who also had Alzheimers, recommended a group for Dad at Home Hospice.  Jack's been a big GUIDING help.    I believe that Dad will turn up his nose at any group therapy of any kind.....Do what you can!

Momma is much worse than we thought. She is losing verbal abilities.  Her speech is garbled a great deal of the time, and she cannot write. Jack McGraw said that if we told Mother that she had Alzheimers she wouldn't believe us, so as much as I wanted to tell her, it doesn't matter anymore.

I talked with Emmett Essin.  He is aware of her condition.  (Ironically, Emmett's wife developed Alzheimers later).

My opinion on involving Mom in a study in Wichita Falls is that I think it would agitate Mom and Dad both and hasten her deterioration.  But I'll leave it up to you.

We drove to Greenville and Sulphur Springs on Sunday.  Dad's driving is less than the best and he endangered us at least three times.  It was a "white knuckle" trip.  Dad refuses to face reality and is in many ways in as bad a shape as Mom.

We checked out the Renaissance and the Methodist homes.  There are no  resident nurses in either.  Mom will need full time care eventually.  Guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Jack said she used to put Garnet in a plane every Thursday, and they'd go somewhere as far as they could go because the only time she could sleep was when she was on the plane;  he couldn't get off the plane to roam. 

Dad is growing increasingly irritable.

Love, Brownie

This letter was never sent, but there's history in it.  It should be preserved.