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My Grandma Josephine Russo was born in Italy. She migrated to America when she was just 16 years old for a prearranged marriage.

A few years after I married my husband George, my Grandma Josie got sick with stomach cancer, it appeared that my Mom, wanted complete control entirely over her, and it was more than to just lovingly care for her. Her underlying goal was to protect her future financial gain, which would come with the death of my grandma for whatever money and material possessions she could attain. Sadly, she passed this desire on to my two older sisters, Marie and Lynn.

Grandma Josie

Now, all these material things had no value to me. I had one baby and lost two babies by this time, and I was grieving and material stuff was never on my mind for a moment. When I was loosing my two baby girls, Grandma was always there to take care of my first baby.

When grandma died, mom was upset with something. She explained her feelings on the last drive home from grandma's house after selling it, for she went to real estate school in order to attain more money from the sale of the house. Mom took my cousin's lawyer husband to grandma's dying bed and had her sign with an X, giving her more money than Grandma had desired for her. Granda was forced to sign something she never wanted to sign, and grandma told me she planned half her money for her step-sons. My Mom forced her to sign a new will, and she was so ill that she signed it.

When Grandma was sick, my oldest sister Marie told mom that she should not take care of her in grandma's home while she was dying. Marie suggested to Mom that she should not work so hard, put Grandma in a convalescent home, and just go and visit her. However, Mom continued to take care of grandma in grandma's own home until her death. The promise she made me agree to was something that frustrated me for years and I did not take that promise lightly, and she told me to promise that I would never allow Marie to put her in a convalescent home.

I made her that promise, and what followed were years of worry and frustration, because as the years went by, Marie and her husband Dan were not the warmest of people. My mom was traditional about her will, and made only Marie her future power of attorney, as the oldest daughter to take care of her. I was concerned and felt a seriousness to Mom's fear that Marie and Danny one day would put her in a convalescent home.

As the years went by, my concerns mounted as Marie and Dan displayed a really awful attitude toward her. So, I continued to warn mom of my concerns, but even with her realizing the same concerns, she continued trusting them with her power of attorney, for when she couldn't take care of herself and this is allowing them to have control over her money, health and life.

For amost 18 years or so I explained to mom my concern for her welfare, but I did have hope for my sister Lynn, as she knew her Bible inside and out, and far more than I did at that time. I pleaded with mom for a couple of years to at least add Lynn to her power of attorney, as I was sure, as a professed Christian, she would protect mom and never wish her harm. Years later, mom did add Lynn, and I was satisfied she would have someone to protect her. I had a sense of calmness for mom's sake. Lynn being added to mom's power of attorney changed my sister Lynn, and the teachings of the Bible went out the window.

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