Hit by a truck while playing in front of the family home on Maumee Street in Jonesville. There was a family gathering that day, (likely due to the death of her Great Grandfather Clark Baker earlier that day) and she was running across the street to join a group of family members. As she lay in her Grandmother Baker's arms, a neighbor told her it was "a blessing" (Eleanor had some sort of cognitive disorder). The following written to her from her Grandma Kroh on Dec 31, 1939: "

To Noney...I love you. To have you rosey round and fat. Nanna would give her very best hat. You're my first granddaughter and don't you forget. this New Year will bring you happiness yet. Every year on the last day you will receive letters from me-which your mama can keep for you. Noney girl-May God give you health this coming year so you will grow rosy and strong. This old year saw you parting with your bad old tonsils and adenoids. and hope you will profit by this operation. Grandma and Grandpa love you both (younger brother Phil) & no matter what this new year brings forth of happiness or unhappiness we will all face it together."

~~~~~~~~~~

There's an order that life is supposed to follow. An order of breaths we are supposed to take, as if we are passing a torch from one generation to the next.

And our torch is supposed to go out before our child's flame is extinguished. We are supposed to watch them take their first breath. But not their last.

We are supposed to hear the thud-thud of their heart when it starts beating. But never the silence when it stops.

That heart that we once carried inside of us. That breath that we gave them. That life that we kept safe, protected.

So when the order of life is disrupted,

when their torch goes out before yours, it is as if you too have been robbed of your breath and as if your heart has stopped beating as well.

There is nothing that can make it less painful. You would blow out your flame if it meant theirs could burn.

But you can't. Even though that's how it should be. So all you can do is carry them inside you - like you did once before. Except now they have to stay in your heart forever.

And though it hurts, know that they are safe there. They are protected.

Because a mother's love is unending.

Because it burns forever with every breath you take and with every beat your heart makes.

Because a mother's love is a flame

that can never be extinguished