There is so much I can say about my Mother. She was a wonderful person full of life and vitality. Very giving in her nature and one heck of a good cook too! She was always there for my sister and me if ever we needed help or advice.
She was a hardworking woman, born to Italian immigrants. Her parents, Gaetano and Angelina Bruno, came to America after World War I when her father was made a citizen for his service to the US in the calvalry. during the war.
She lost her father when she was only 8 years old, leaving her mother, her, and her 5 siblings alone. After her father's death, they were forced to move from their beautiful Victorian home into a small two bedroom, but they were a family and they worked together and made their way. Times were difficult, money was short, everyone took a job to help out.
When my mother took a job with the pillow service at Greyhound Bus Lines in Pittsburgh , and was promoted to supervisor, she saw to it that everyone in her family who needed a job had one! It was there that she met my father, Roy Haywood, a young bus driver for the company. My Mom never called him Roy. To her, he was Jay (and when she was calling him, it was Jason!), always.
My Mom and Dad were married on November 24, 1950. They had two children together and spent the next 54 and 1/4 years together.
When my mother was diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension in 2003, my father became her caregiver and he did a wonderful job for the duration of her illness. He gave her the pills she needed to take, made sure she had her oxygen when the power went out, cooked, cleaned, did the laundry and shopped for her.
When she was hospitalized for the final time, we had no way of knowing she would not be coming home. She was doing so well and there was talk of discharging her in a couple of days. Then the unthinkable happened. She went into respiratory failure, then kidney failure.
At 9:10 PM on February 15, 2005, my mother's life on this earth ended. We were with her as she passed from this life into eternity.
We will miss her more than words can ever express. She is gone from our lives, but she will live forever in our hearts.
We love you Mom and will look forward to the day when we are all united again.
