Sadly Senile
Accidents do happen. All the time. Stray incidents that tragically alter peoples' lives. That take peoples' lives. One sad story after another. There seems to be no end to them. Hard to imagine that an elderly couple, married for sixty years, with the older of the pair, the husband, at 88 years of age, becoming the care-taker of his health-frail younger wife of 79. A long marriage that produced three children, and doubtless a host of grandchildren.
A long-retired couple living out their lives quietly in a small Ontario town. Part of the small community, and respected and engaged in community life. On this momentous occasion that has caused them to part after a long life together, they were intent on taking part in a annual community event, to honour the dearly departed. The community gathered on its Decoration Day for the purpose of visiting gravesites, leaving flowers, and taking part in a church service.
The Sunday of June 6 the elderly couple arrived in the little hamlet of Douglas, where Mr. McLeod parked his vehicle. On exiting their vehicle, Mr. McLeod felt he had taken up too much space, potentially making it awkward for other drivers to park adequately. He re-entered his car with the intention of re-positioning it to better reflect his neighbourly intention. In doing just that he backed the car up, and in the process hit his wife.
The vehicle was said to have responded abnormally quickly, striking Mrs. McLeod, and continuing on to collide with another two vehicles, backing through a garden hedge and finally stopping beside a house. But there is some question about a stuck accelerator, and there will be an investigation respecting mechanical malfunction. Mrs. McLeod died of her injuries after she was taken to hospital.
When their eldest son arrived for the purpose of attending the same service as his parents, it was to find his father seated close to where the vehicle had stopped. "He was in shock", reported the son later, before his mother's funeral. "He didn't even know he'd hit Mom. He didn't even know. He didn't have a clue what was going on."
Shock will do that. Agedness helps.
A long-retired couple living out their lives quietly in a small Ontario town. Part of the small community, and respected and engaged in community life. On this momentous occasion that has caused them to part after a long life together, they were intent on taking part in a annual community event, to honour the dearly departed. The community gathered on its Decoration Day for the purpose of visiting gravesites, leaving flowers, and taking part in a church service.
The Sunday of June 6 the elderly couple arrived in the little hamlet of Douglas, where Mr. McLeod parked his vehicle. On exiting their vehicle, Mr. McLeod felt he had taken up too much space, potentially making it awkward for other drivers to park adequately. He re-entered his car with the intention of re-positioning it to better reflect his neighbourly intention. In doing just that he backed the car up, and in the process hit his wife.
The vehicle was said to have responded abnormally quickly, striking Mrs. McLeod, and continuing on to collide with another two vehicles, backing through a garden hedge and finally stopping beside a house. But there is some question about a stuck accelerator, and there will be an investigation respecting mechanical malfunction. Mrs. McLeod died of her injuries after she was taken to hospital.
When their eldest son arrived for the purpose of attending the same service as his parents, it was to find his father seated close to where the vehicle had stopped. "He was in shock", reported the son later, before his mother's funeral. "He didn't even know he'd hit Mom. He didn't even know. He didn't have a clue what was going on."
Shock will do that. Agedness helps.
Labels: Family, Health, Human Relations, Ontario
posted by Pieface @ 6:27 PM
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