Audrey Mae Spencer

“I don’t have to worry about Roger.  He has a nice family.  They will all do fine.  He is pretty level.”

“I think she can take care of herself.  I don’t have to worry about her.”

“She will get along just fine.  She has a nice place to stay.  She has nice friends and she is always on the go.”

(Heather: Yes, she lives on Amanda Street.  We love the name of her street, as that is the name of your favorite Aunt Mandy [Esther Amanda (née Spencer) Briggs] who kept the Spencer genealogy alive.)

“Is Grandpa asleep?”

(Mother’s roommate at Kent had a deep voice and was hard of hearing, so she would shout instead of talk.  It was quite a while before I realized that Mother thought her roommate was a man and therefore thinking the person must be Grandpa.  Also, this substantiated my thought that Mother’s eyesight was very poor,)

“I’m so sleepy.  I’m so sleepy.  It’s dark in here.”

(Heather:  Mother, but the lights are on and it is light outside.)

“I see a man, by the window.  In front of the window.”

(Heather:  Mother, there is no one there. We are safe.)

“What are you going to do?  I’ve got to feed the horses.  Where are the horses?  They’ve got to eat.  The horses are cold.  There are three horses. Where are the horses?  I’ve got to see them. Open the gate. Go to the door.”

(Again when Audrey was confused she would revert back to her fears in her childhood when the horses would get out.  If the farmer did not have his horses, there was no help to plow the fields and there was no transportation. Not living the agrarian life anymore, Mother’s comments give us insight into the realities of life as it was on the farm.)

(Mother stopped crying and another resident told Crystal “Your mother is quite an actress.”)

“Is Douglas going?

(Heather:  Douglas is not here today.)

“Oh, he isn’t here?”

(Saturday 1 PM)  “You try to get Violet (Violet Kettelle) over and take her once in a while.  Grandma (pronounced Gramma)  likes Violet and takes her over”.

(Violet, Audrey’s older cousin, had died earlier, but Audrey was never told and, therefore, was not at the funeral.)

“Take me to the hospital.  I can’t walk.”

“We have been having lot of fun with telephone.  Everybody wants to try it out…He is an expert…Bye, Heather.”

“What are you all here for?”

(Heather:  Spen, Doug and I are here for your quarterly meeting for you.  Every resident here meets with the staff every three months.)

(Spencer:  Vaughn and I were in a tractor pull.  Guess who won?)

“You’re the oldest, so maybe you ought to win.”

(Spencer:  Vaughn won!)

(laughter)

“I’m so tired, I can’t think.”

“Poke him, so I’ll know I’m taking another swallow.”

(Crystal had just brought in a Starbuck for Mother and I and the above comment was Mother’s way of asking Doug if he wanted some of the Starbucks.  Again, Audrey had difficulty expressing the correct words.)

(Audrey’s eyesight was not good. Apparently, she may have been seeing double.  When she saw Douglas, she said:

“Which one are you? (as she turned her head slightly from side to side)

(Date not recorded on above observation.)