My Aunt Diane, the younger sister of my mother Ruth, passed away on February 13. My grandfather, Diane’s father, wrote a tribute to his daughter shortly before she died. I’ve posted a PDF version here, Remembering, with the text following. I am so thankful that God is faithful to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
REMEMBERING
A small child about eight months of age hung over her father’s forearm like a half-filled bag of grain, legs and feet hanging down on one side and arms, hands and head on the other. As a pair of motherly looking ladies passed, one of them whispered, “Doesn’t he know how to carry a baby?” Yes, he knew. He also knew from some experience that this was definitely the position of choice for this particular child, perhaps an early indication of her propensity for “thinking outside the box.” The child was Ruby Diane Renich, the third daughter of John and Eileen Renich. She and her father were returning from their regular twice-weekly visit to the therapy and rehabilitation department of the Los Angeles (California) County’s public health service. A recent bout with polio had crippled the child’s left arm, leaving it almost useless. The therapy brought no improvement, but as the child grew she learned to adapt to her limitation and compensate for it in many ways. At this time her mother was a patient in a rehabilitation hospital some thirty miles away seeking recovery from the ravages of a much more severe attack of polio. The mother’s life had been spared, we firmly believe, in answer to the earnest prayers of many Christian friends.
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