The Family History Writing Challenge - Our Little Angel

Well we are at day eleven in The Family History Writing Challenge.  I spent a long time on the phone talking to a cousin I had found recently, so my mind is still with that conversation.  I hope I can clear it enough to write a story.

Our family had a new addition, a beautiful little girl.  My oldest sister had her first child, the first grandchild for my parents.  My mom and dad were very happy to have a new generation began in our family.

My mom's youngest child was just turning two, when my oldest sister gave birth to Joyce Jean Leach.  Since my parents had nine children there was a large age difference in the first and last children.  My parents had lost a child as an infant, her name was also Joyce Jean.  My sister had chosen to name her baby after our  sister who had died. 

My sister's baby, Joyce Jean was born on February 9. 1959.  I was only about 4 1/2 when she was born.  It wasn't long after she was born that my sister and her husband decided to move to Arizona.  My sister was leaving the family for the first time and going far away.  My mom and dad were  sad to see her leave, and to take their grandchild away.

My sister was gone for just a few months and Joyce got sick.  They brought Joyce back home and she had pneumonia.  Things went from bad to worse very quickly.  Her little lungs just weren't able to fight out the germs that had gotten in.  Joyce Jean died on June 15, 1959.  She was just a little over four months old.

I remember the day of her funeral, and getting ready to go to the funeral home.  I think everyone was a little stressed out.  I didn't know babies could die.  My little sister was just a baby.  Would she die?  

My brothers who were just older than me were 7 and 10 years of age. As they were getting dressed they got into an argument.  I'm not sure which one did it, but one of them picked up one of their dress shoes and threw it at the other one.  It went right into the window.  I don't think mom got too upset, she just told them to get ready it was time to go.

We walked down the alley that was close to our house.  The funeral home was on the street behind our house.  We went there to see the baby lying in a casket.  It was so sad.  Our Joyce Jean had left this life behind after just a few months.  Her time on earth was over.