Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
My mother's grandfather was named John, the same as his father. His father, with his wife Mary, and their two children, John and his sister Mary, immigrated from Poland to The United States. They had landed and were checked in at New York City. They then took a train to the south side of Chicago. They had some family there, and there was already a large Polish community already established.
John, the son, would eventually be my mother's grandfather. He was a very strong man and would live to be ninety-seven years old. More importantly he kept his sharp eyesight, hearing and all of his original teeth until the last day of his life! That's very rare, even today.
In his old age he still could remember Chicago when they still had dirt streets. For years he was a wagonmaster and helped in the paving of those streets! He could remember everything and told all of his stories of those wild Chicago days.
John had lived to be ninety-seven, but his sister Mary died on November 1, 1918 of the swine flu. In those years millions of people from around the world died of that horrible disease! Mary was one of them. She died at the age of forty-three, leaving behind five children!
John, at the age of ninety-seven years died fifty-four years after his sister Mary. John died peacefully at Wild Rose hospital, a small country hospital in Wild Rose, Wisconsin. Just minutes before his death, while surrounded by family members, John had seen his sister Mary! Just before he died, he looked up and said with a surprised voice, "Hello Mary!"
John had seen Mary and recognized her after all of those years. She had come to his bedside to take John away to where she had come from, the afterlife, heaven, but somewhere! Some people are troubled by these stories, but I never have been. I have always found great comfort in knowing that a loved one would come to my bedside to take me away!
William James Roop
