"R. I. P. Barbara A. (Tillotson) Northrup"

Barbara A. (Tillotson) Northrup, 80, of Endicott, born August 2, 1929 in Johnson City, NY, peacefully entered Heaven on Tuesday, December 1, 2009, at Lourdes Hospital surrounded by her family. Barbara was predeceased by her parents, Asa and Margaret (Davis) Tillotson; a niece, Nancy Wagner; and nephews, Donald Tillotson and James Tillotson. She is survived by her husband of 52 years, M. Carl Northrup; six sons, Carl Thrasher, Colchester, VT, Robert Northrup of Colorado, Richard (Ann) Northrup of Maine, NY, Randall (Diane) Northrup of Endicott, Thomas (Christine) Northrup of West Henrietta, NY, Timothy Northrup of Endicott; and one daughter, Debra (Lee) Vivian of Lancaster, PA. She also loved all eleven grandchildren, Jason, Melanie, Kristine, Richard, Heather, Nicholas, Zachary, Josiah, Kathryn, John and Matthew; and great-granddaughter, Mosel. Also surviving are two brothers, Ronald (Diana) Tillotson of Endicott and Donald (Sandra) Tillotson of Vestal; and sister, Louise (Warren) Whittemore of Endicott.

She was actively involved in supporting her children's and grandchildren's activities and sports and squeezed in some of her own activities. She was a member at various times of: PTA, Union Business Women's Club, U-E Wrestling Boosters, Good Sam Club, U-E Football and Band Boosters, Round Hill Chapter 104 OES, Old Town of Union Historical Society, Supervisor for Organization of Triangles, Parents Circle for DeMolay, Precious Moments Club and U-E Class of 48 Lunch Bunch. She enjoyed attending musicals, sporting events and most any activity her children and grandchildren participated in. She loved her family, a good party, her trips to Aruba and Las Vegas. After her 20th trip to Aruba she was honored as an honorary Ambassador to Aruba. A lifelong member of Central United Methodist Church, she loved her church and the many friends there. She was an election Inspector for Broome County and had previously worked for Day Hollow Restaurant, H&R Block, Art Services, and as a "Temp" at IBM. She also was an Avon Lady for many years.
Funeral Services will be held Saturday, 10 a.m. from the Allen Memorial Home, 511-513 East Main Street, Endicott, with the Reverend Douglas Clark, Pastor of her church, officiating. Burial will be in Maine Cemetery, Maine, NY. The family will receive friends at the Allen Memorial Home, Friday from 4-7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation to a Children's Charity of your choice in memory of Barbara.



Barbara was my mother's cousin and was an important person in my life for as long as I can remember. Hers was one of the first faces that I would search for when we would go to our Carpenter-Davis family reunions. If I didn't see her, somehow I felt uneasy. Scanning the faces, I would search for someone with a big smile and an unusually huge photo album full to the brim with mostly photos of her little daughter, Debbie, in pretty party dresses. Barb was so happy that she had finally had her little girl—not to take away anything from her six amazing sons, mind you. It's just that she had been wanting to have at least one daughter in the mix, so she could dress her in lace and frills and now that she had her, she took every opportunity to show her off.

At the time, I was too young to understand that was what was happening. All I knew was that Debbie was so lucky to have all those neat clothes and I loved to hear the stories Barbara told about Debbie's latest accomplishments. I just always found myself wishing that I could do something special, too, (just one little thing!) but I couldn't come up with one single thing that I would call special that I could do. I guessed I wasn't special at all. My face must have showed that quite clearly because the next thing I knew, Barbara had wrapped her arms around me and was playing with my hair as she talked with me for the longest time, asking me about what I wanted to do when I got older. I confided in her that I was scared because everyone else seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do, but that I had no idea. I wanted to be a mommy most of all, I had told her, and to get married to someone like Dad. Just talking to her made me feel better—it always has.

I never forgot that day...or the many others that followed as she seemed to keep a special eye on me throughout the years—or at least I'd like to think she did. She was a very special lady, and I will miss her every day of the rest of my life here on this big old earth...until we meet again in Heaven.



Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

"Catching Up On The Past Few Weeks!"

The past past few weeks have been pretty busy for me, with more activity than I'm used to. It's hard for me to get around and go out because of the pain that I'm in, but each of these trips were necessary and thank the Lord, I'm still alive to tell about it all. (LOL!)

Let's start with my monthly trip to the pain clinic with my sister, Carol. On Wednesday, 25 November 2009, Carol picked me up and we went to Groton to see Dr. Ortiz. The next day was Thanksgiving, so the waiting room was packed that day because they had over-booked appointments. We had quite a long wait and both of us were in a lot of pain to begin with, so it didn't go over big with us, but we always handle it well because we usually have a good time together.

I had what I call a "cruise control" appointment, which just means that everything was pretty much the same as it was the last time that I saw him, so there was no need to change anything. Carol did have some problems, so they worked on them and then we left.

After that, we went to Shur-Save for our groceries, went to the Post Office, then headed over to Mom's for our monthly get-together with Sande. We usually have such a nice time, but this time, it was a little strained because Carol said something to Mom about how Dion and I wouldn't be coming for Thanksgiving, and as usual, the whole thing got blamed on me.

I couldn't wait for Carol to take me home because I was in so much pain.

The next day was Thanksgiving and I needed to go home to rest up if I were to have any hope of being able to go to dinner—anywhere.

When Dion got home from work that night, he put away all the groceries that I brought home with me, plus he helped me get undressed and he put me to bed. I was in so much agony that I was in bed for the night by 6:30 p.m. and he took care of me like no nurse you have ever known. He was loving and tender, plus he even read to me. He is so wonderful to me—I love him so much!



Thursday, 26 November 2009...Thanksgiving Day. Dion and I definitely decided that we would go to his mother's for dinner and that we were not going to go over to my mother's and join them afterwards because they complain and say that it's just not good enough that we show up later anyway, so why spoil a perfectly good day?

We had a wonderful time at Dion's mom's. The dinner was delicious and as always, his mother was as adorable as can be. She is always so sweet to me and she makes me feel loved. It's so peaceful and calm over there—totally different from the chaos that has become the norm at my mother's now.

Besides Dion's mom, Dion and me, the following were present for dinner: Daren, Cheryl and Dara; and Donna, Bob and Matthew. I looked around the table and immediately wished that Duane had been there—I miss him so much. After that, I wistfully thought how nice it would have been if Drew, Vikki, Dana, and Katie would have popped in and joined us. I don't know about the rest of them, but I miss them a lot.

When dinner was done, Dion and I went home, sunggled together and watched some DVD movies. All in all, it was a great day. There was no arguing or back-biting and it was a day to be thankful for.



Monday, 30 November 2009...Dion took the day off from work today so that he could take me back to Dr. Ortiz's for my third in a series of "trigger point injection treatments" on my left shoulder. The first two times I received a series of twelve shots in each visit and this time I received somewhere between 8 to 10 shots, but they were big ones, and they hurt really bad! (I have to remember to tell Dr. O. that after he left the room, the pain went all the way up the left side of my face and my ear, plus it hurt my left arm and the top of my left hand.)

Dion and I stopped at the Phoenix Bookstore on the way home, but I didn't go in—I just didn't feel good after receiving all those shots. Then we went to Penny's for lunch. It was really nice, but we had to wait for quite a long time, which Dion can't seem to tolerate very well. Once he got food in his tummy he was in better spirits, though.

Then we went to get my prescriptions, which they promptly messed up at Rite Aid. Ever since Josie, the long-time pharmacist they had, left for medical reasons, that place has made mistakes and messed up my prescriptions every month. And to top it all of, they're rude!

When we finally got home, I called Audra and wished her a "Happy Birthday" because thirty years ago today, I went with Carol and the doctor into the delivery room and helped deliver her into this world. I was the first one to see her! She was "my little baby." I'll never forget it—it was wondrous to behold.

We ended the day much like any other—in each other's arms. There is nothing better for me than to fall asleep being held by the man I love, with my ear to his chest, listening to his heart beating steadily, as he strokes my hair and tells me that he cherishes me. Heaven is here on earth, sometimes.



Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!