R.I.P. Aunt Lou

My Great Aunt Lou passed away on Sunday at the ripe old age of 99. One can hardly be sad considering her age... Imagine 99 birthday parties including the one this year complete with an accordion player, $35 bucks an hour for the "squeeze box," in case you were interested. If she had candles on her birthday cake each year to commemorate how old she was she would have burned 2,451 candles! Check my math if you don't trust me, and see how long it took me to figure that out! Knowing her, the candles on her cake never matched her age as she always insisted, "you NEVER ask a woman her age." When my MOM wished her a happy 98th birthday she scowled and said, "I don't know what you are talking about, I don't know anyone who is 98!" I love that she was a woman ahead of her time. Only after her mind started to leave her still able body did my MOM figure out it was not my Great Uncle Quint who brought home the bacon. Rather Aunt Lou out earned his accounting business triple fold selling make up and perfume at the Olwin Angels department store. How fabulous is that? She was prim and always proper. I adore that she always swirled her hair up around a perfectly placed bee-hive-ish hair piece until the day there was not quite enough hair to clip into. She was delightfully put together with her fancy cosmetics and her trend setting jewelry. She enjoyed her Pink Catawba wine out of a "glass" glass even while residing at her nursing home because as she said, "it just doesn't taste the same unless it is in a "glass" glass." She warned my MOM if someone from church asked the wine most certainly was not for her. Little did she know/remember she likely outlived everyone from church she ever knew. Her little "jewelry box" of a house was jam packed with antiques. She lived there alone after her husband, "Andy" Anderson, passed and up until dementia fogged her memory just a few years ago. Dates began to get confused and her questions of "where's Andy?" or "why my MOM isn't in school today," warned it was time for her to receive round the clock care. But dementia could erase her memory of my MOM's face as she never forgot who she was. Five minutes or 50 minutes MOM would visit her almost every single day for the past two years. Remember when I was telling you about "My Auntie?" Well, Aunt Lou was, "my MOM's Auntie." In fact her name, Linda Lou, was given in her honor. My MOM said when she was little, she used to cry when Aunt Lou would leave. So in return Aunt Lou would scoop her into her big town car and drive her around the block so they could have a little more time together. How fitting that they held hands as Aunt Lou took her last breath. Just proves no matter what the decade those "Aunties" are one of a kind. Rest in peace Aunt Lou-we will always remember the fabulous you!

Aberdeen American News Obituary - The service for Luella Anderson, 99, Aberdeen will be 1 p.m., Wednesday at Faith United Methodist Church with Rev. Jack Erickson & Eric J. Gerber IV officiating. Burial will be at Riverside Cemetery. Luella died Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, at Aberdeen Health & Rehab. Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, 1111 S. Main St., Aberdeen, is in charge of arrangements. Luella Ann Davidson was born to Charles & Alvina Davidson on March 15, 1909, at Foster, Neb. On April 4, 1934, Luella married Quinten L. Anderson at Faith United Methodist Church in Aberdeen. She sold cosmetics at Olwin Angels and Herbergers for many years.
Luella was a member of Faith United Methodist Church. The family would like to say thank you to Aberdeen Health & Rehab for all their care while Luella was there. Grateful for having shared Luella's life are her nieces & nephews, Mrs. Tom (Linda) Van Scoy, Aberdeen; Pat Oban, Sturgis; Ruth Anderson, Big Lake, Minn.; Ron (Darlene) Anderson, Plymouth, Minn.; and Jackie (Bruce) Allen, Rapid City; Jon Anderson, Guam; Pete & Don Anderson, Washington State. She is preceded in death by her husband, Quinten “Andy” Anderson and her parents, Charles & Alvina.