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1959 |
MikePattiJulieMackenzieMikeyStandishCassidyJones FamilyKenNellActivitiesAudio ClipsCoin CollectionFavorite LinksHeart SmartPicture TrailsQuicktime SnipsRecipesRock CollectionStamp CollectionUnknown Student Art |
It was
about 2:00 PM, Tuesday, July 7, 1959, "Mrs. Parker,
come quick, Kenneth has been shot!", Libby yelled as
she ran into my kitchen. I left the dishes I had been
washing, ran across the backyard and jumped over the
fence that the children used as a short cut from our back
door to the Twichell's back door. When I got there some of the neighbors were already there. Someone told me I shouldn't go into the living room where Kenneth laid on the sofa. It might upset him. I should go home and get on a dress. I had on short shorts because I had been playing with the boys all day while Jimmy slept. I had given all of them, my two, Kenneth and Michael and the two Twichell boys, Ronnie and Danny, apples to eat while I washed the dishes. I didn't know they had left the back steps until Libby came after me. Ronnie had gone to his house to show Kenneth "something". It was a German Lugar. In the process of showing it to him, Kenneth was shot. This was such a tragic thing. He suffered lung damage and lost his right kidney. They removed his spleen and left him only a small piece of liver. Then infection, reaction to medication, blood transfusions and all the complications kept him in the hospital ten weeks. He was in the Greenville General Hospital from July 7th to September 15th 1959. There were nurses around the clock for three weeks. There wasn't an ICU then only recovery. There were only enough beds in recovery to take care of the surgery patients each day. He was kept in recovery Tuesday night. He was in surgery until late Tuesday night and we went to recovery to see him about every hour. They kept him there until Thursday when he was taken to the pediatrics floor. That was the seventh floor in the old hospital. The first shift private nurse was Mrs. Rambo. The second shift nurse was Mrs. Margie Rumsey and the third shift nurse was Mrs. Savers. We stayed about all the time. I would go home long enough to bathe and put on clean clothes. Then I would go back. After Jimmy went back to work, he would come on from work and get me. I would go home, cook breakfast, bathe, dress and he would take me back. I had a chase lounge in the room after the nurses were dismissed. When I slept I held Kenneth's hand so if he moved it would wake me up. I slept very little. All this time Mike was like a toy. He was at Greer with Mama and Papa for a day or two then they were back at Eastlan for a few days. He was only seven and he and Kenneth were so close. One day he called the hospital and told me to get Kenneth's doctor to send him some sleeping pills. I bought baby aspirin, put about six in a pill bottle and wrote "Sleeping pills for Michael Parker. Only one tablet at bedtime." They worked I suppose. He didn't complain any more. Kenneth got cards from lots of people.
Lots of them he didn't even know. Most would put money in
them. This made Michael feel so left out. He said he
hoped he would get shot when he was eleven. So I arranged
for an unknown, secret person to write to Kenneth's
little brother and send him a dollar. This worked
wonders. He watched for the postman everyday! He even
decided to be a mailman when he learned they got thirty
days vacation a year. He must have gotten this
information from waiting for the postman each day! Bringing Kenneth home from the hospital wasn't the end of his problems. We had a nurse to come out three times a week for ages. Also, a teacher came everyday for weeks. He got able to go to school some afternoons, but it would take all morning to "soak" him. If the dressing was stuck he had to soak until it came loose. Then clean dressing had to be put on. If the nurse came I still had to have everything ready for her. There was always a washer full of sheets, towels and pajamas. Some nights he would use two or three pair. He was always so sweet! He was never cross or irritable. We always had something to be doing while he was home. He loved to help me cook and was always in the kitchen when I was cooking. Perron and Walter came several nights each week after he came home from the hospital. They usually brought Kenneth something. Michael resented this very much. He felt so left out. One night while they were visiting, Michael went to the kitchen and turned the heat on under my deep well cooker. I always kept water in it so if it was turned on accidentally it wouldn't burn. Mike let it boil all the water out and melt the bottom out of the deep well cooker! He had a chair pulled up and stood there watching, I suppose. Anyway, I smelled something burning and I went to check. Walter came to the kitchen to see what was going on. I just took him down out of the chair and turned the stove off. Walter said, "Aren't you going to whip him?" I said, "No! He only wanted some attention. Everyone takes on over Kenneth and he wants some attention too!" Walter was so very surprised that I didn't even scold him and he had ruined the deep well! After that they would pay him more attention when they came over. Even if it was just to ask if he had burned up anything else. Copyright ©1990 by Piedmont Endeavors, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of these stories may be reproduced by any means electronic or otherwise without the prior approval of the author. |
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