Saturday, January 01, 2005 AD Yankee Tales My Yankee mother is of an age that telephone conversations with her usually include a report of who is ill and who has died. Tonight she told me about the folks in this article -- a brother and sister who died last week in her small New Hampshire town. Hazel Meader's cause of death was confirmed as hypothermia, but Paul's autopsy was sealed. Any ideas why they would do that?
The woman quoted in the last paragraph of the article played the piano for me when I sang at my grandmother's funeral. Note what she says about Yankees.
Also in the local news is this story. A friend of my mom's wrote to Christopher Reeve's widow asking for a contribution to a fund to get a van for a local quadriplegic boy. Instead of sending money, Dana Reeve sent Christopher's van. Pretty cool, huh?
My mom volunteers twice a week with the Friendly Meals program mentioned in the article, serving, cleaning up, and taking extra meals to shut-ins. The Meaders were one of her regular deliveries.
These stories (including bits that aren't in the paper) paint a picture of the kind of Yankees I know -- hard-working, independent (if a bit too stubborn for their own good), community-minded. Just a reminder to my friends who use the Y-word as a pejorative. ;-) Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 1/01/2005 08:27:00 PM
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