In Memory of Gladys A, Huster, my Grandma

On Saturday April 19, 2008 at about 1:50 pm my Grandmother, Gladys Alberta Baldwin Huster, passed away. Born on September 12, 1908, she was a fighter up until the end. Services will be Wednesday 2-4 & 7-9, and the Funeral service at 11 am on Thursday at the Union Funeral Home - Lytwyn & Lytwyn on Stuyvesant Ave. in Union, NJ. I will have the honor of eulogizing Glad and if you knew her, you have guessed correctly if you say that I will honor her memory with as many laughs as I can. If you didn't know her, let me describe my last two "conversations" with her on Friday night before her kidneys began to fail and take her from us.

1. She looked at me wide eyed and asked, "How does my hair look?". "Glad", I said, "I've gotta tell you. It's looked better. But it's looked worse too!". The she asked, "How do I look?" I replied, "You look great".

2. The cardiologist she used to see when she was initially diagnosed with congestive heart failure 9 years ago, was called in at around midnight. I say, "she used to see" because she didn't like him and hated to go see him. She had an agreement with her doctor that he would monitor her and only force her to see him if she had too. Anyway, this guy comes in and was pretty much a jerk. After he left she leaned over to me and through that little oxygen mask looked at me and said, "I don't like him".

That my friends, sums up my Grandmother in a nutshell. I am thankful that I could be by her side the last 15 hours. There was no where else I would have rather been than by her side trying to make her last few hours a little better.