Amy Doyle

My great grandmother is named Amy Doyle.  My sister Amy was named after her.  She is someone who is an inspiration to me, though I only know her through the stories my grandmother has written about her.  She didn't live very long, only 36 years.  I am 35 now.  That means I would only live one more year if I were to live to her age.  She must have had a short mission on this earth.  Short and difficult.  She lost her first husband when he went out on a fishing trip and was pinned under a rock.  Nobody found him until he had died.  She was left with a little baby girl named Frankie. She went on to marry my great grandfather, Ferdinand Desoto Graham, and they had my grandmother, Cleo, and her twin sisters, Delia and Dorris. 
I love the way my grandmother describes her.  She was caring, gentle, ambitious. She loved to sew, cook, garden.  I think I would have loved to know her.  She also suffered much.  Living out on a farm was toil enough, but she also suffered from arthritis, "dropsy" or swelling, and a heart condition probably related to the edema.  She would have to go to town  and have her fluids "tapped" to relieve the pressure which my grandma says must have been very painful.
Amy passed away when my Grandma was 11 years old, but her memories of Amy are very vivid.  She gardened, and had beautiful flowers like lilacs, snowballs, tulips and peonies.  She canned fruits and sewed dresses for all her girls- those skills must have passed on from mother to daughter and to grand-daughter for my mother and grandmother also did those things.
Grandma even tells a story of  having to take cod liver oil that was sent home from the school because of her sickly appearance. Amy took compassion on her daughter and threw the bottle of mint-flavored fish oil out.
I also remember my mother telling me that Cleo, her mother, would often sing "Rock of Ages" because it was something Amy would sing.  I too enjoy that song, and find great comfort and strength in the words. 
I am not sure why I needed to write this, but I have had it on my mind.  I feel a closeness to my ancestors when I think about them and read about them.  I want to know them better, and know what life was like for them.

On Hearts and Valentines

Everett had an appointment with the cardiologist yesterday. I thought it was a little ironic that Valentine's day was the day his doctor chose to come up from Salt lake. The news isn't great. His Pulmonary stenosis may be progressing a little, so the doctor wants us to come to Salt Lake for a sedated echocardiogram. We were told not to worry too much, but still, I would rather the news be better.

My mom reminded me (via her blog) about how Valentine's day is my great, great grandfather's birthday: William Valentine Walker. We re-read his story last night for Family Home Evening. It was fun to hear my grandfather's written voice telling his remembrances of his Grandpa.

I've been wanting to post a lot more, but with a babe in arms I do not always have my hands free. But I have been keeping busy. Cora is going to take part in a Shakespeare play that will be performed at the end of the school year. They are performing "A Comedy of Errors," and she will be Aemilia the abbess. I am working with the younger kids in our homeschool group to put on a puppet show as a pre-show. We will be performing "Heckedy Peg." It is a cute little story about a mother and her 7 children who get kidnapped by a witch. My friend Jane built the whole puppet show and all the puppets for it years ago when her kids were young. They used to go around Denver and perform it to raise money for their music camp. It was wonderful for her to let us borrow it.

I will have to post pictures later.