In about 1986, on one of Marie's trips to see Dr. Clay Easterly, he diagnosed breast cancer under her right breast. After her surgery, she had radiation treatments at the Biloxi Hospital. This schedule usually took the whole morning, or afternoon. This was quite an ordeal, but was quite effective. And thereafter for the next few years, she went to see a Dr. Clarkson, located on Lameuse Street, for monthly treatments. We were very glad that I had Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield, because all of the unusual expense was covered by this insurance. As a matter of fact, I recall that I bought a new car over in Gulfport that very day the examination was made, and it sure came in handy.



Dr. Clarkson found some cancer cells in Marie's large intestine, at which time an operation was performed and he removed about two feet of it. The next thing that happened was that Marie fell and broke her right hip. We located a specialist and he replaced the hip bone and socket with a metal socket and insert. This went along just fine for a while and then she fell again and the metal socket and insert was replaced by a plastic one. The next unfortunate thing that happened was that when she sat down she crossed her legs, and because of this, the ball was pulled from the socket and the operation had to be done all over again. Because of all these things, I was just naturally doing the driving until one day one of the ladies at the church asked her why I was doing all the driving. Then she got upset about it and decided she would show them she could. After about two times at the railroad crossing, where the train barely missed the car, and getting a traffic ticket, she asked me to do the driving.

Things went along pretty nicely, until about 1993, when Dr Clarkson found some cancer cell in her intestines and he operated again and she confined herself to the back porch of the house. This was her decision as she liked the wood fired metal heater that had been put in. The doctor assigned three nurses to help take care of her but she only wanted the one during the day. The porch did not work well because the bathroom was inside the house and trips there were hard to make. One night she tried to get to the bathroom and fell, hurting herself badly. She was then put in the hospital, and seemed to be improving. I remember Ann, and Helen and Margie and Bill came to be with us at times. But, one day, in the hospital, Ann and I went home for supper, and while Fred and Inez Stephens was there with her, she passed away. That was at 5:30 PM on November 19, 1994. Her funeral was on November 22, 1994, at the cemetery in D'Iberville. The service was conducted by Rev. Jim Richer in Biloxi, at the First Presbyterian Church, and at the cemetery.