ÿþ<html> <head> <title> Tragedy Strikes</title> <embed src="AMAGRACE.MID" autostart="true" loop="true" hidden="false"> </head> <body background="backgrounds/roses.jpg" bgcolor="#000000" text="#E6E6CC" link="#E6E6CC" vlink="#E6E6CC" alink="#C8C88E"> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td valign="top"><div align="center"><center><table border="0" cellpadding="85" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> </center></div><p>&nbsp;</p> </td> <td valign="top"><div align="center"><center><table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top"><p align="center"><font size="6" face="UnivrstyRoman Bd BT"><strong><u>Tragedy Strikes</u></strong></font></p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.ourgrandmother.com/gallery/mary_jane.JPG" align="top"><br> <font size="2"><strong>Mary Jane Haddock,<br> three weeks before <br> her death.</strong></font></p> </td> </tr> </table> </center></div><div align="center"><center><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="600"> <tr> <td valign="top"><font size="7" face="UnivrstyRoman Bd BT">T</font></td> <td><font color="#000000" size="5">.</font><br> he saddest day of Eva's life was her fifteenth birthday. On that day she was called solemnly into her parents' bedroom to say goodbye to her dying mother. Mary Jane had been seriously ill with Bright's Disease for months, and her kidneys had finally failed. Just before her mother died, Eva wept at her bedside and promised &quot;to take care of the boys.&quot; Eva was the oldest girl left at home---her sisters were all married and had families of their own to care for. There were four little boys younger than Eva, and now she would cook and clean by herself for the whole family. <p>For the next seven years she willingly worked and scrubbed and lovingly cared for the motherless children, though she was only a slip of a girl herself. The youngest one was only three. Until the end of their lives, the younger brothers loved her and honored her as if she were their own mother. </p> <p>Ninety-four years after her mother died, Eva said she missed her still.</p> <div align="center"><center><table border="10" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#E09383"> <tr> <td><img src="http://www.ourgrandmother.com/gallery/eva_eva.JPG"></td> </tr> </table> </center></div><p align="center">Eva as a teen-ager.<br> </p> </td> </tr> </table> </center></div><div align="center"><center><table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td><p align="center"><a href="article2.htm"><font size="6"><strong>-Next-</strong></font></a></p> <p align="center"><a href="eva.htm"><font size="1">-Home-</font></a><font size="1"> </font><a href="article1.htm"><font size="1">-Girlhood-</font></a><font size="1"> </font><a href="article3.htm"><font size="1">-Tragedy Strikes-</font></a><font size="1"> </font><a href="article2.htm"><font size="1">-Wedding Bells-</font></a><font size="1"> </font><a href="article4.htm"><font size="1">-</font></a><a href="article4.htm"><font size="1">Raising Seven Children</font></a><a href="article4.htm"><font size="1">-</font></a><font size="1"> </font></p> <p align="center"><a href="article5.htm"><font size="1">-Golden Years-</font></a><font size="1"> </font><a href="article6.htm"><font size="1">-World Traveler-</font></a><font size="1"> </font><a href="marticle.htm"><font size="1">-Birthdays-</font></a><font size="1"> </font><a href="article7.htm"><font size="1">-Last Days-</font></a></p> </td> </tr> </table> </center></div></td> </tr> </table> </div> </body> </html>