I thought I’d start the story of her life with the end of her life in this world.
The Rose
The day before Lorraine left us, I was naturally very distraught. Adrienne reminded me that it was the Feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and gave me a quote of what the Blessed Mother said to Juan Diego:
“Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness not anguish. Am I not here, whom am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.”
In 1531, Juan Diego, a recently converted Aztec peasant, had a vision of the Virgin Mary while walking through rough terrain to a Church in Mexico City. She asked him to build a church on that spot. He told the local Bishop who asked for proof.
When he went back, he told her that the bishop wanted proof, so she instructed Juan Diego to go to the mountain top, where he found red roses and other flowers which could not possibly bloom during wintertime. He cut the roses, placed them in his tilma (cloak) and showed them to our Lady who picked them up and placed them back in his tilma, and he returned to the bishop. When the tilma was opened before the Bishop on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the Virgin of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted on the fabric.
The appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Aztec Indian Juan Diego in December of 1531 generated the conversion of Mexico, Central and South America to Catholicism.
Lorraine was doing very badly. The hospice nurse said she was to go in the hospital bed the next day when they were starting round the clock nursing. I would sleep with her in her bed that night so she would not be alone.
Just after I got into bed with her, she started laughing, then smiled for about 15 minutes. She hadn’t spoken in days, yet I kept asking her what she was laughing at. ; no reply. Later, Lisa said it was probably (her brother) Ricky saying or doing something to crack her up. I have no reason to disbelieve her.
She had a very difficult night, she was obviously in much discomfort and kept groaning and stiffening her body the “death rattle” getting worse,. I held her hand and prayed. I stayed awake the whole night, so I got my laptop and looked up accounts of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Although I heard it many times before, I was struck by him finding abundant flowers, especially beautiful red roses, on top of a mountain where no flowers grow.
This night, when I knew the Lord would be taking her soon, I had an irrational fear that she might get lost because by this time she was totally blind. I said a prayer asking Our Lady of Guadalupe to put her mantle around Lorraine and to accompany her as she made her way Home, and asked her to send me a red rose to let me know she got there safely.
In the morning she took her last breath. A few hours later they came to take her remains away. I was a mother whose baby was being ripped out of her arms like a scene from a holocaust movie and cried and tried to stop them. Loving arms (and legs) held me down. After they left, the hospice nurse walked into the room, carrying a beautiful, perfect red rose. She said, “I found this on her bed and was afraid it would get mixed in with the sheets.”