Pictures above: (1) Picture of Mom, circa 1970; (2) Dad surrounded by three of his grandsons; (3) Sharon, Kathy, and Richard, children of Sid and Esther Gallagher, at the memorial service for their mother on August 12th at Luther Memorial Church in Madison.
Sharon and Dwight spent the last week of July in Wisconsin visiting family and celebrating the marriage of nephew Matt and fiance Heidi on the 31st. We were able to spend some time with Sharon's parents as well, and it was pretty evident that Sharon's mother, Esther, age 89, was failing. We were able to use this time to say good-bye to Mom and let her know how much she was loved. We returned home on August 1st and a week later, Mom died. We then flew back to Wisconsin for the remainder of that week which ended with a memorial service on August 12 at Luther Memorial Church in Madison. All 7 of the grandchildren present participated in the service. Brother Richard expressed for both him and Sharon the gratitude we feel for sister Kathy's steadfast care for Mom and Dad over the last six years. Mom fell in 1999, suffered a compression fracture of the spine and never really recovered. Sharon's father, Sid, age 87, is weak physically, but still of pretty sound mind. He misses Mom terribly, even though the last couple of years have been extremely difficult.
