An Aunt Ruth Story by Grandpa Jim

Jean's Aunt Ruth lived outside tiny Wheatfield, Indiana most of her 95+/- years. She was widowed and childless and loved to garden. At age 92, Ruth was mowing the lawn on an old, riding lawnmower when she accidently bumped into a large bush and the mower tipped over, badly cutting her left foot. Unable to walk on the foot, she crawled approximately 100 to 150 feet out to the blacktop road. Lying half into a ditch, she waved for help at a few passing cars, but none saw her, apparently. Finally a car went by with a man and woman inside, and the woman spotted Ruth and told her husband to stop and help. The husband didn't slow down, but said the woman was probably drunk or something. The wife persisted. The husband relented and took Ruth to the nearest hospital. Doctors amputated her foot first above the ankle, then again below the knee.

When we visited Ruth upon her return home, she was using a wheelchair and swore that, come whatever may, she would not EVER wear a prosthetic.

The next time we went to Ruth's, she was up on crutches AND using a prosthetic leg. We couldn't help but ask how come. She explained that she had to give in because that nasty old wheelchair left marks on her kitchen floor!

Several months later, while in Indiana, we complimented Ruth on her thriving vegetable garden and asked how she managed to work it. She told us that she was hesitant to go out into the soft soil on her new leg, but she saw a rabbit in the vicinity and had to do something about it. So, she got her late husband's old, old shotgun, saw that it was loaded, and went out to shoot the rabbit. She did shoot it, but failed to kill it. She picked up the squirming animal by its long ears and proceeded to beat it against a tree, finishing the job the gun had started.

"Know what," Ruth asked us? "What?" "Haven't seen another rabbit since!"

Do you have an "aunt ruth story" to tell? Put it in a memoir. Send it to me via e-mail. Don't let family stories get lost for want of sharing.