My Mother Suggested This Blog Posting

While Mother and I visited this week during her hospitalization, she suggested I post on this topic as a way of saying "Thank You" to those who served her and our family this week.

My mother strives to follow the advice to remain healthy by staying out of the hospital. My brother-in-law makes house calls for her, provides medicine from his little black backpack for her ailments, and takes a call concerning her health any hour of the day, seven days a week.

Mother, Angie, my sister, and Ben,
Mother's favorite ARNP

Ben’s medical protocol for Mother had cleared the infection diagnosed the previous week. Ben  recommended politely additional testing. Mother’s illness worsened, requiring Ben to insist graciously that she needed a blood test that he would order at our local hospital. Sure enough, the test revealed an issue.

 This week, her condition described as “critically low sodium” by her “personal APRN” required hospitalization. Our family conducted a family conference call with Angie, Mother, and I in the Bend while Ben was driving between clinics. We all realized that small, rural hospitals cannot provide some of the complex procedures available in the 21^st century. Yet with Mother simply needing sodium intravenously, we collectively decided Fairfax Community Hospital would be the best fit all around, enabling me to be “a hop, skip, and a jump” from the farm, making it possible to do daily chores there. My brother-in-law arranged for her admission to Fairfax Community Hospital.

 During Mother’s 24-hour stay, she stated frequently what good care she received. So many of her care providers had known Mother for many years. To most, she was not a patient in room …, but Bernyce, someone who, with Dad, had furnished rides to church, someone whose house always felt “homey” to employees who had visited her home in their younger days, and almost every nurse or PA, who had never met her before this week, expressed admiration for how sharp and gracious she was.

 I smiled to myself as she complemented each meal served to her. How ironic that a woman known for her superb cooking would be praising and enjoying hospital food, often the topic of jokes! Dad liked her food so much he seldom wanted to eat out, yet Mother savored her meals at Fairfax Community Hospital this week.

Small, rural hospitals cannot meet all healthcare needs. But during this past week, a small, hometown hospital, the Fairfax facility was the best place for our family.

Eugene Robert Rainey - a Life Given to Others

Eugene Robert Rainey

Eugene Robert Rainey’s 112^th birthday was on September 20. He entered the world two years before Oklahoma’s statehood at Sacred Heart (near Asher, Oklahoma) as the final child born to Rosa Jarrell Rainey and William Marion Rainey.

Gene, as he came to be known, was the third of the Rainey children born at Sacred Heart. This town originally started as Sacred Heart Mission in 1879, but the name of the community/town changed to Sacred Heart when the arrival of non-Indian settlers was anticipated. The Land Run of 1891 in the fall opened the land of the Potawatomi people to outsiders. The Rainey family had settled in this area by 1902.

Early Photo of Gene

Jovial, fun-loving, sensitive, and generous described Gene. Here are some memories from previous blog postings illustrating some of these traits.

One of the more memorable pranks that my mother recalls involved a night when she and her parents were spending the night with her grandparents. Her Aunt Alice and Uncle Gene were also living there. Thinking it would be grand fun, her Grandpa Rainey and Gene planned and staged an elaborate ruse. The two of them sneaked outside and began throwing stove wood from the woodpile at each other, raising their voices, and using “colorful” language. They came into the house, with their battle scars, and told their wide-eyed guests that they had been attack outside of the house. Their guests, as well as Grandma Rainey and Alice, were terrified and sat up all night talking about what had happened—not daring to close their eyes for a wink of sleep lest the intruders that terrified Grandpa and Gene would return to break into the house and harm all of them. However, Grandpa and Gene slipped off to bed stifling their giggles. The next morning, their laughter could no longer be contained, and they spilled the beans to their weary family that they had faked the whole thing. Unfortunately, no one appreciated the antics they staged and the lengths to which they had gone to entertain themselves: in fact, let's just say, the women folk were downright ticked off!  -from the blog post entitled William Marion Rainey

          Alice, though legally blind, was a terrific cook. One family story associated with her scrumptious cream pies involved her younger brother Gene. Alice had made a couple of cream pies anticipating “company” coming for Sunday dinner. To her chagrin, she set them out to cool, went for a visit, and returned to find her generous brother had taken them and shared with neighbors. She had a few choice words for him.- from the blog post entitled Alice Rainey – the Valentine Baby

Rosemary Goad Dilbeck recalled in her childhood, Gene, her great-uncle, showed incredible generosity to a needy family. Rosie’s grandma, Daisy Rainey Rice, was one of Gene’s sisters.

Rosie attended Belford Grade School and had a friend whose family was hungry. Gene provided sustenance of garden vegetables, milk, other food and probably some of Alice’s home-baked desserts. His consistent generosity for a prolonged time to her friend’s family impacted Rosie even to this day.

This generous, jovial man received a diagnosis of manic depression, now referred to as bipolar disorder, in the early 1940s. His wife and the love of his life, Raucie Snow Rainey, went to work in the airplane factories in Tulsa. He missed Raucie and his dearly-loved daughters, Billie Jean and Marilyn. Soon Raucie became ill and died. Even though he had many productive times, he never fully recovered.

Gene and Raucie Rainey
              Billie Jean and Marilyn Rainey

Mother marveled at how he cared for a herd of dairy cows on a small area known as the “triangle” just west of the site of the Belford Grade School. Gene’s productive cows provided milk that he sold to milk companies much to the surprise of his fastidiously clean sisters and mother!

My father contracted mumps as an adult just at the time he needed to plant cotton. Uncle Gene came and put in the entire cotton crop enabling Dad to concentrate on following his doctor’s orders and recovering totally.

One of his greatest delights occurred each time his three grandchildren, Suzan, Craig, and Lisa arrived for a visit. He dearly loved them. Many of his nieces and nephews reaped the joy of his doting on them.
     I was only five years of age when Uncle Gene died, but I recalled a time when Suzan, Craig, and Lisa, with their mother, came to our house in the Bend. Uncle Gene stayed in the backyard where we kids played in the dirt and on the homemade tree swing that Dad had hung for me. Fun and happiness abounded in that simple setting with Uncle Gene being the happiest I had ever seen him.

Uncle Gene died March 27, 1962, after contracting pneumonia while receiving treatment at Vinita. Even though I was young, I remembered my grandmother, Gladys Smith Rainey, the nurse in the family, being concerned about her younger brother. Sometimes I wondered if the advancements in medication and treatment in our day might have made his life different. I knew Grandma would have felt the same way.

In her keepsakes, Grandma had a New Testament that belonged to Gene. Inside the back cover, in pencil was written, “Jesus I love. Jesus I love.” Grandma had recorded in her family record book that Gene was “converted” in 1948, following the preaching of Jack Wright.

Each of us have our own struggles in life. Giving to others and bringing happiness to his family and neighbors remained the main goal in Uncle Gene’s life, despite his periods of debilitating depression. What a legacy worth emulating!

Finally, as I reflected his penciled words in the small New Testament, a precious verse from I John 4:19 articulating a beautiful, life-giving truth came to mind. As you read this verse, may you realize Uncle Gene’s theology of loving Jesus because He first loved him, provides a credo by which to live and die.

We love Him because He first loved us.

Another blog posting entitled Long-Ago Friendships in the Bend, featured an account of how my grandmother acted as Gene's protector as a schoolgirl in the Bend. It can be accessed at:

https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2016/07/long-ago-friendships-in-bend.html

My Dad's Connection With Hurricane Irma

             My father, Edmund Gates, Jr., always had a way of identifying personally with a news event. With so many news stories, either he had been at the location or knew someone who had. This came to mind on Sunday, September 10, 2017, when Hurricane Irma was making landfall in Florida. I knew Dad would have had interesting, colorful commentary about the news reports as the ferocious hurricane hit the Floridian peninsula.

A photograph of my father "during a
convalescent leave in Miami Beach and
St. Petersburg, Florida from
mid-June through September 1944."
My mother had written this on the 
back of the portrait.

             Dad had been assigned to Miami, Florida, following his initial furlough upon his return from England after completing his required 25-combat missions with a B-17 Flying Fortress crew. He spent the time with his family in the Big Bend community. Here is a brief account of his time in Florida as written in his military memoir, Okie Over Europe.

                   Edmund had a “21-day delay in route.” This term meant that he was given a twenty-one-day furlough. He was scheduled to be in Miami Beach, Florida, on June 16, 1944. Edmund chose to stay in Oklahoma until June 17th. He wanted to be able to celebrate his father’s birthday on June 16th. This would be the first time in two years they would have a dual celebration of birthdays since Edmund’s birthday had been on June 15th. Edmund wistfully remembered that until 1935, Edmund, his father, and his younger brother, Fredrick, had celebrated their birthdays together. Fredrick had been born exactly on his father’s birthday, June 16th in 1921, and ironically, was struck by lightning and killed on his 16th birthday in 1935, just shortly after the family had enjoyed a dinner in honor of the three birthdays.

           His family took him to Ponca City to leave on the train the following day, June 17th, conspicuously a day later than he should have departed. By this time, a pontoon bridge was in place on Highway 60 east of Ponca City on the Arkansas River instead of the ferryboat that Edmund had taken to return home. (A flood had taken out the bridge over the Arkansas River on Highway 60.)

             Upon arriving at Miami Beach, Edmund’s captain reprimanded him for his late arrival. The captain also loudly threatened demotion. In Edmund’s mind, a blustery captain was nothing in comparison to fighting the Germans in the skies over Europe. 

               Edmund stayed in Miami Beach, Florida, at the Lord Tarleton Hotel on the twelfth floor for ten or twelve days. The hotel expense was covered by the military. Edmund was required to pay for his meals. Few soldiers were returning at that time from the war. He speculated that he was assigned to this furlough by the Air Force in an effort to assist him in working through the stress of combat. His time in Miami Beach was spent entirely in recreational activities. There were very few other military personnel in this location. Edmund spent much of his time on the beach swimming and riding the waves. Occasionally he splurged for a sixty-five-cent drink downtown.

             Edmund was sent from Miami Beach to St. Petersburg, Florida. While at St. Petersburg, Edmund was injected in his arm with a substance that he referred to as “truth serum.” While under its influence, he was questioned by a doctor on topics ranging from family experiences to combat happenings. Some soldiers were discharged at this point. Edmund felt his mental, physical, and emotional health were being evaluated to ascertain if he was capable to continue serving in the Army Air Force. He cannot prove this supposition since all his military records were destroyed in a fire in the 1970s.

             In his leisure time at St. Petersburg, Edmund met a civilian couple from Chicago. The friendly pair encouraged Edmund and three or four other soldiers to use their fishing tackle. He fished off the dock in the Gulf of Mexico daily.

         Edmund lodged in a large building of perhaps four or five floors furnished by the military. This building, however, was not technically a hotel, even though Edmund has in his collection of memorabilia a card from Dorothy Rabo, his pilot’s wife, addressed to Don CeSar Hotel. This illustrious hotel on the beach was built in 1928 but had fallen into disrepair and was purchased by the United States Army for only its assessed value. It was converted into the convalescent center where Edmund stayed for around thirty days. This building has since been listed on the National Register of Historic Places and restored to its earlier grandeur. (Here is a link to the hotel as it is in 2017 - http://www.doncesar.com/ ) 

Photo of Don Cesar from its website.

              As I have reread his account and discussed with Mother, she recalled that he wistfully mentioned in his letters to her what a nice time a married couple would have in St. Petersburg. Even at 92, with her killer wit, she quipped, "I didn't take the hint." As a nineteen-year-old, she had made it plain to him - no marriage until the military was behind him.

                Yet as I viewed the devastation as the result of Hurricane Irma’s force, I kept recalling the warnings issued over a week ago. The cautionary warnings, then encouragement to evacuate, and finally, the mandatory evacuations were given repeatedly, but some did not heed.

                Several Bible verses of warning passed through my mind.

"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, 

they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 

"For by your words you will be justified, 

and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:36-37

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard,

so that we do not drift away from it. Hebrews 12:1

And He said, "See to it that you are not misled; 

for many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time is near ' 

Do not go after them.” Luke 21:8

Lord, may we never be unwise, refusing to take heed to your commands and warnings in our spiritual lives. Enable us to be bold and strong in obeying Your Word promptly and completely, so we can positively affect our family and friends.