The photo shows my brother George and his first wife, Barb with the twins. I hadn’t seen Barb in decades, and when I learned that she and her daughter, Barb (when she was younger, she was called Bobbie, were in a nursing home, Connie and I decided to visit them. We took Peyton, our trained therapy dog, with us. She was an immediate star with the patients in the home. Young Barb was 53 and had ALS. In the photo, she is the baby on the right. When we arrived, we found them both sitting in the day room. Young Barb looked at me and asked her mom, “Do you know who this is, Mom?” After a few minutes of contemplating, Barb looked at me and said, “Billy!” She had Alzheimer’s disease. Like you, I am very familiar with that illness; my mom had it, and now my sister, Dolores, is affected by it too.
Over the next couple of months, I visited them several times. During one visit, young Barb’s doctor came into the room to explain what was happening.I got up to leave, wanting to give them some privacy. Barb said, “Please, Uncle Billy, stay; I want you here.” I sat back down, and she reached for my hand and squeezed it. The doctor delivered some bad news, and she began to cry.
A few weeks later, I received a call asking for the family to come to the facility because Bobbie was nearing the end of her life. She woke up and asked for me, saying, “Where is Uncle Billy?” I rushed down to the facility and sat by her side. She was in and out of consciousness. A few hours after I arrived, she died. It had been years since I had seen her, but there I was, holding her hand as she took her last breath. I can’t help but wonder how and why that happened. This was in 2020, and George had died in 2014.
Thinking back to that day brings tears to my eyes. Did George somehow guide me to her? The other twin, Georgie, was a rebel. He wore a big Harley Davidson cutoff jean jacket, and he had a couple of fights with some Pagans who wanted him to join their club. At the same time, he broke up with his girlfriend. He died suddenly at the age of 44. His father believed that the Pagans were responsible for his death and wanted my help in finding out what really happened.
Young George lived near Shirley Bramble, and Joe DeFelice lived in the same neighborhood. Joe was in charge of the local chapter and was also a member of the Mother’s Club. I reached out to him, and he invited the two of us to come to his house. When I asked him about the Pagans being involved in Georgie’s death, he said he would find out. He assured me that he wouldn’t let anything happen to Georgie since he liked him and considered the Clearys as friends. A few days later, Joe called to say that none of the Pagans were involved in his death.