15 – Sept – 1953
77 Clifton Road
Bangor
Co. Down
N. Ireland


My Dear Josephine,

It is with the greatest sorrow that I write to tell you that my darling husband & your loved brother passed away on 11^th Sept at 7-30 P.M. although gradually becoming weaker since the end of August he was able to be out each day until Sept.5^th when he sat for some hours by the sea watching his beloved ships. I sat with him most of the time & then Mrs. Robson & I went down to escort him home. We had such a happy tho’ very slow walk back to the house; next morning Sunday he got ready to go out again but was unable to go & went back to bed which he never left again. Cardiac asthma [1] and sleeplessness lowered him rapidly, nothing would stay down not even the sleeping pills and on Thursday his doctor gave him another draught which brought the blessed sleep, he did not wake up again except for a few minutes at a time when he would speak a word or two & take a sip of something, the rapid breathing went on even under the sleeping draught, his doctor said when he came in at noon “He is dying”, he passed away in my arms at 7-30. yesterday 14^th he was laid to rest in Bangor Cemetery in the sure & certain hope of the resurrection morn and of our meeting again.


My sisters & Wilhelmina have been with me; such precious and loving comforters. I ought not to grieve when my loving Heavenly Father has made such provision for me in the sweet companionship of my friend Mrs. Robson. Yet the house seems just empty. When looking in his pocket book last evg. for a document I found these words in his own handwriting put there, no doubt, for me to find after he had gone.

“Christ is risen. He has conquered death & sin He has opened up the vista of an endless and victorious life.”

Now dear Josephine, I shall have time to write you & Adelaide soon & send a photo I have for you & some Coronation posters which I had for you.

Wilhelmina goes home tomorrow she is well but still handicapped with her hand; she sends her love to you both to which I add mine from a sorrowing heart.

Yours affectionately,
Isa

NOTES:

[1] Cardiac asthma is a common term (as opposed to a medical term) for congestive heart failure. Although patients may wheeze this is not due to constriction of the air passages as in bronchial asthma. In a healthy body, the right chamber of the heart sends blood to the lungs to receive oxygen, which is then pumped throughout the body. In cardiac asthma the left chamber of the heart cannot pump hard enough to send the blood into the body. The volume of blood trying to flow from the lungs into the left heart chamber is increased, putting pressure on the heart. This causes the lungs to become congested, hence the term "congestive heart failure." The sypmtoms of cardiac asthma include: sudden onset of coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. When this letter was originally penned there were no effective treatments for cardiac asthma or bronchial asthma. [Return to Letter]