Mito-Monday #5 - Why The Mito-DNA Project Took a Left Turn...

Written in the first months after Mom's very unexpected death for the now defuct Mito-Trail family blog. This expanded version was written on the second anniversary of her death. This was the photo Dad carried in his wallet for more than 60 years.

I've had a difficult time since Mom died. I sat down several times to write this blog and have not been able to do it.

I have somewhat of a reputation of writing gut-wrenching stories of departed friends. I can't exactly call them obits, more like multiple-page stories bordering on a dissertation that jerks one's emotions all over the place. I guess people like them judging on the requests for reprints, from as far away as Australia.

Like some mother-daughter relationships, ours was a bit complicated. But in later years, particularly after Dad's death, we talked multiple hours a week on the phone (we lived three states apart.) It was kind of odd in a way because since my stroke a couple years back, it had become incredibly difficult to talk to most people, but there didn't seem to be the mental hiccups with Mom...

She was very interested in her family history, and we had done some interview trips, courthouse research (before photocopiers, and she had lovely handwriting!)  and trips with my jeep out across farm fields to abandoned cemeteries.

(Pictured above right is the pile of genealogy material my brothers gave me.)

This blog, The Mito-Trail, was our last genealogy project together, and was cut short with just a few entries. So I have decided to combine the Mito-Trail with Stray Branches.

And now I dedicate this, Mito-Mondays, to her.

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It was the last time I felt her warmth, even as it ever-so-slowly slipped away from her.

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https://www.examiner.org/obituaries/93361-shirley-mae-moore 

Like all obituaries, there are a couple of mistakes, even though four of us proofread it at the funeral home. I think even with all of today's technology, something will always be amiss.

SHIRLEY MAE MOORE
February 23, 2018
Written by THE BELLEFONTAINE EXAMINER STAFF

Shirley Mae Moore, 82, of Kenton, passed away at 2:10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, at Lima Memorial Hospital.

She was born Feb. 12, 1936, on the family farm outside Roundhead, to the late Ira and Claribel McMillen Fleece. She married Theodore “Ted” Moore on Oct. 10, 1955, and he preceded her in death Aug. 8, 2012.

She is survived by a daughter, Debra (Rick) Gordon of Tennessee; two sons, Gary (Barbara) Moore of Bucyrus and Joseph Moore of Kenton; eight grandchildren, Wayne (Erin) Woodward, Erin Nicole “Nikki” Woodward, Stephanie Woodward, Tracy (David) Grimes, Kathryn (Andrew) Harriger, Quentin (Dielove) Moore; Nicholas Moore and Alyssa Moore; 10 great-grandchildren, Colby, Audrey, Zoei, Evan, Dylan, Lincoln, Landry, Luke, Mahayli and Maliyah; and a sister, Anna Marie Coulder.

A grandson, William Caleb Woodward; a brother, Charles Fleece; and a sister, Maxine Dodds, also preceded her in death.

Shirley was a 1954 graduate of Roundhead High School. She was a member of the Hardin County Gideons Auxiliary, Silver Creek United Methodist Church and was a volunteer at Hardin Memorial Hospital.

Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 26, at Silver Creek United Methodist Church, 17314 County Road 115, Kenton, with Pastor Mark Bishop officiating. Burial follows in Fairview MacDonald Cemetery.

Visitation is from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, at the funeral home and for one hour prior to the service at the church.

Memorials may be made to Gideons International in her memory.

Express condolences at stoutcrates.com.