Pov9/20/2015

P.O.V. 9/20/2015 Before I’ve told you lots of nice stories that would make Riddick, FL feel like a nice warm relaxing place. Growing up as a child that’s what it was for me. But now I’m going to tell you a true story which held a little bit of bad news for the Crater family, and probably will for the rest of our lives. I just turned 59 approximately 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon. My cousin Beth who was about a year younger than I, who is 58 has had a life that is somewhat more difficult than mine. I learned a long time ago, that even if you think you have it bad, there is always somebody in the world who has bigger problems than yours. When my cousin Beth was about 6 or 7 years old, one afternoon she was out playing in the yard with some neighbor kids, and the ball they were playing with rolled across the highway which was out in front of my Grandmother’s house. Where she lived with my Aunt Jo and my Grandmother. Beth went across the highway to retrieve the ball and right at that point in front of the house there is two little hills built into the roadway. When you get to the point in between, you can’t see over the point on the top of the second hill. Such was the case for a young college student returning home from the University of Florida in Gainesville. He made it over the first hill but by the time he made it to the top of the second one it was too late before he saw Beth coming back with the ball. What followed is a lifetime of up’s and down’s. At least six months to a year for Beth to recover in the Hospital. So much so that I even gave her one of my wheelchairs for a while, to use while she recovered. It was difficult there for a while for a family with two disabled kids.

Eventually Beth got better and improved but because of a hole in her head on one side, which the Doctors said was as big as a half dollar. I won’t bore you with the long drawn out details, but over the next couple of years she developed a few more mental problems. It was hard for her Mom and her Stepdad to handle her.

Eventually Beth had to be made a ward of the State. Because her Mom and my Aunt Jo, could not handle her anymore. I think this put more of a strain on Aunt Jo than anybody else. Eventually as she got older, my Aunt Jo had a few mental problems of her own. While she was growing up Aunt Jo was always the youngest

of the bunch. Aunt Stella Ruth, my Dad Toppy Jr., and my Uncle Irwin who was killed in a plane crash in the second World War. His remains were recently found approximately two years ago. Somewhere off the coast of Japan. Between two Japanese islands. My Aunt Jo was always thought of as the baby of the family so much so that even in her 50’s my dad and her sister Stella Ruth stilled called her Baby part of the time. After my Father, and my Aunt Stella Ruth died. They were kind of the glue that held our family together. As I see it. After that our family kind of fell apart. The neighbor lady who was asked to look after my Aunt Jo, after her sister Stella Ruth died. Got kind of pissed off at me and the rest of the family because we could not come down and see about Aunt Jo anymore. By this time my mother was having her own health problems. She and I could not travel together anymore. I could not even pick up and go whenever I wanted to. One day when I was getting dressed which takes a wheelchair person like myself, with somebody else putting the clothes on you about 45 minutes to an hour. My Aunt Jo called in the middle of this, in one of her upset moods. She said she just wanted somebody to talk to, and I told her that I was getting dressed could I call her back in a few minutes? With this she got upset. Hung up and never called again. When I tried to contact the lady that was taking care of her to find out what was going on. She jumped all over me. This was about 10 or 12 years ago.

After that I lost contact with Aunt Jo and Beth. About a year or two ago one of my cousins wrote and informed me that my Aunt Jo had passed away in the nursing home. Somewhere close to Ocala, FL. The last I heard of my cousin Beth, she was in a similar facility somewhere I believe around St. Petersburg. But I’m not sure.

So much for the story of Jo and Beth. Whose pictures you will see with this story.As we all know, life isn’t always peaches and cream. Thanks for reading

Toppy C.

Aunt Jo is in picture #1 and picture #2 is Cousin Elizabeth Ruth Thompson