Monday   December 15, 1999 3:50AM

Dear all,

Mom passed away at 12:31 AM, Monday, December 13, 1999.  Mother's last few days were fairly peaceful. On Sunday she did not open her eyes at all.  Sunday morning she did squeeze my and Michael's hand on command but by the evening she no longer would do that.  She started having trouble breathing around 10:00PM.  When they started to put her in the ventilator her heart started to get erratic and then it stopped.   About 20 doctors and nurses worked on her franticly for about 45 minutes.   But, she just slipped away at 12:31AM.  Her suffering is over.  She went straight to heaven.

I am terribly grieved.  I have lost my mother who almost died giving me birth.   I have lost my strongest advocate. I no longer will have a living saint riding next to me.  No longer will she make me look at "the lovely clouds in the sky" on a CLOUDY day.  No longer will she surround my presence sweetly singing the Baptist hymns that she learned as a young girl.  No longer will she stand with me and by me against the world.  I have lost my best friend.

Her last words that she whispered to me were, "Billy, I am so grateful for you.   You and me together."  But in reality, it is I who is so grateful to have had her for my mother.  Any goodness that I have as a person is directly from her.   Any love that I give flowed first from her to me.

My mother endured tremendous emotional suffering over the last 20 months, totally unnecessary suffering as the result of hard and selfish hearts &  mentally-ill obsessiveness, and it killed her in the end.  May God forgive those responsible.

Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement.