My Husband's Memorial
Melvin L. Jeffery
I Love You...
...And I Miss You
March 14, 1953 - September 4, 1997
He Touched The Lives Of Many
My Husband, Melvin, and I were together for 22 years. He was a journeyman painter and we worked a lot together on side jobs. Working with your spouse can be quite trying to say the least. He made sure I was no stranger to tools for which I am very thankful. One of his favorite lines when we were bidding on a job was, "Hell, if you want your carpet painted, we can do that too!".
Written November 7, 1999
Houston, Tx. 1957
San Francisco, Ca. 1968
Melvin was born in Houston, Texas and moved to San Francisco when he was eleven. He never lost that Texan accent, and I had the hardest time understanding him for the first 2 or 3 years. After that I became his interpreter. We have two kids. Son, 26 years old. Daughter, 22 years old. My son blessed us with a grandson who is now 9 years old. (I am way too young to have kids this old!)
Us-Hayward, Ca. 1983
Hayward, Ca. 1983
On March 12, 1997, our lives changed forever. Melvin had been sick with the "flu" (we thought) since the beginning of the year. He wasn't the type to run to the doctor over everything. He never had any health problems before. That day I really didn't like how he looked and took him to the hospital. He went straight to ICU and spent his 44th birthday there. That same day, a hemotologist came to tell me he had Multiple Myeloma. Bone Marrow Cancer. Six months later he was gone.
A Giantish Song
Sung by Pitchwife Giant
By SR Donaldson
"My heart has rooms that sigh with dust
And ashes in the hearth.
They must be cleaned and blown away
By daylight's breath.
But I cannot essay the task,
For even dust to me is dear;
For dust and ashes still recall,
My love was here.
"I know not how to say Farewell,
When Farewell is the word
That stays alone for me to say
Or will be heard.
But I cannot speak out that word
Or ever let my loved one go:
How can I bear it that these rooms
Are empty so?
"I sit among the dust and hope
That dust will cover me.
I stir the ashes in the hearth,
Though cold they be.
I cannot bear to close the door,
To seal my loneliness away
While dust and ashes yet remain
Of my love's day."
Modesto, Ca. 1996
San Mateo, Ca. July-1997
More info on Multiple Myeloma
If you have lost someone, the following sites are helpful.
Is death the last sleep?
No. It is the last final awakening.
Faith is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.
Faith is the continuation of reason.
When you come to the edge of all the light you know,
And are about to step off into the darkness,
Faith is knowing one of two things will happen.
One, there will be something solid there to stand on, or
Two, there will be someone there to teach you to fly.
