It is with great sadness that our family lost our mom to Alzheimer's on January 20, 2024. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease for more than 10 years. Some people refer to it as the "long slow death." This is the 8th year I will be Team Captain of Memaw's Marchers in The Walk To End Alzheimer's on October 26th. This year will be in special memory of Mom! I walked the previous 7 years while she was in the nursing home. Mom lived her life to its fullest with gusto, and on her own terms. She raised her three children (She included Steve, my dad's son from another marriage, in many of our activities), had four grandchildren; Zach, Alex, Carson, and Sydney, and was lucky to meet her great grandchild, Jackson James soon after he was born, at the nursing home. Mom was kind and social, smart, witty, feisty, enthusiastic, and enjoyed many activities. She loved the outdoors, her gardening, flowers, hiking, picnics at Letchworth Park, Owl Prowls at night in the park, plus her 2-mile walks around Caledonia every day. We always ended up on unique excursions with her, especially when it always rained on our camping expeditions (We were not exactly real campers), and other adventures that often included the grandchildren. She enjoyed reading, researching and compiling genealogy books for all of us, loved the arts, especially music and theatre. What she really loved the most was us, her family and having us all together at 3205 Church Street. What she really really loved was Coca-Cola. She drank Coca-Cola her entire life, even in the nursing home. Mom was the Remedial Reading Teacher at Caledonia-Mumford Central School. While she was raising us and working full-time, she got her Masters in English from Geneseo by attending night classes for 5 years.  This is the woman who ended up in the Episcopal Church Home in Rochester, NY for 7 years on the memory Impaired floor. I spent a lot of time with her every month for at least a week every month, participated in activities with her, celebrated every holiday and birthday, and watched as she deteriorated moment by moment, day by day. She had a few regular visitors which included my daughter Alex, brother Dave, and my friend Terry. Many people asked why I still visited her when she couldn't say my name anymore, had virtually no memory, was highly disoriented and was a total care resident. I told them that she was still my Mom, a different Mom, but she's the Mom who raised and loved us. It amazed me how people she closely knew, suddenly stopped visiting her after she had been there for 2 years. She would surprise me when she would say occasional words, but mostly communicated with her eyes and facial expressions. It was wonderful when she would be smiling or laughing, but boy, you'd know it if she was ticked off. Two weeks before she passed, I was about to head home. Mom was sitting by a nurse being monitored. I told her I'd be back in a few weeks, kissed her on her forehead and told her I loved her. She looked up at me and gave me the biggest smile ever. When I left, I knew if something bad happened while I was gone, I would always remember that moment. Mom didn't deserve Alzheimer's, a horrible debilitating disease that robs its victims of their identity. There is still no cure, but now, there are advances on the horizon with extensive research about Alzheimer's. Let's save our generations to come and find the CURE. Please donate and/or register to walk with me on October 26th. My team is Memaw's Marchers.