Phyllis A. Klinger - Her Life and Death

At 12:15 this morning, Phyllis A. Klinger, my mother-in-law, passed away at the Taylorville Hospital. Unfortunately, we had left an hour earlier, and were not at her side. My heart bleeds to know that she was alone.

Phyllis was an excellent mother-in-law...she never interfered with our private life, hosted Thanksgiving dinners that were delicious beyond belief, and was incredibly easy to buy presents for.

In the past, she collected apple items for her kitchen. Recently her passion turned to Campbell Soup stuff. I had a blast looking for the familiar red and white can in unique situations..did you know they made a porcelain Campbell's Soup Christmas tree? Yep, she had it. Phyllis was passionate about the color purple, and loved just about anything in that color, except for lavender. I could never go wrong with purchasing for Phyllis.

I loved to hear the stories that Phyllis liked to tell, even though I'm not from Morrisonville and had no idea of whom she was referring to. She loved to stay abreast of the latest news from Morrisonville, Taylorville, and the surrounding towns.

Before I married her firstborn, Phyllis was a teacher. She dedicated many after-school hours with projects that would make the lives of "her" kids better. At the funeral home today, as we were making arrangements, one of the sisters (Kara, Kristy, or Kayla) told a story about how Phyllis used toilet paper to "tie" one of her problem students to a chair after she had done yet another destructive thing to the classroom. The original story was hilarious...I left out a lot in translation here. The girl ended up learning her lesson, grew up to have two children of her own (hopefully as ornery as she was) and be a productive member of the Morrisonville area.

Phyllis has been in and out of the nursing home in Taylorville for quite a few months. She was diabetic, with septic ulcers on both legs. I didn't know that she had been in renal failure for quite some time; she was very closed-lipped about things like that. The infection in her legs had pretty much overrun her body, making it impossible to bring her back to our world. I could look into her eyes, clouded over with agony, know that she wanted the pain to stop whatever the cost. It was hard to feed her ice chips, pat her shoulder, tuck in her blanket, and keep up a positive attitude. All that I wanted to do was yell at the nurses (they were only following doctor's orders and protocol, I know) for not being able to give her more morphine or change to a drug that would ease her pain.

On the whine side, I just have to say how unfair her death is. There were people that had been in the nursing home for years, minds and bodies gone, just waiting for their hearts to stop. Some wandered the corridors, singing songs and calling out for long-gone spouses, having no idea of even being there. Others sat in their wheelchairs, heads draped forward as they slept the sleep of the forgotten. Phyllis was still mentally alert, and, up to that point, only slightly out of whack physically. She used a wheel chair due to the condition of her poor legs, but was able to feed herself, go to the bathroom, and roll around to catch up on the happenings of her "neighbors". My selfish side thinks " WHY HER?????" In my heart, I know that she is in a better place, and, most importantly, out of pain.

Phyllis, I love you. You will be missed.

shel