Evanston: this house
Evanston: this house
Until last week a 94 year old woman lived in this house one block east and seven blocks north of us with her two sisters and her brother.
Unusual in that the siblings, none of whom ever married, stayed together in the same house into which the family had moved in the 1920s when their father was a professor of German Studies at Northwestern University. More unusual in that the sisters and the brother were dead.
One sister died in her 60s thirty years ago. The brother died at age 83 five years ago. And the other sister died this past May at 98. All of natural causes.
The bodies were found when a community health worker, who had previous contact with the woman, was finally admitted into the house.
They were in different rooms, and some were covered with blankets.
The woman was known to her neighbors, occasionally seen gardening-- she repaid small favors with gifts of flowers--and attended a block party this past July 4. A man to whom she rented her garage and who did odd jobs for her said that she sometimes walked with a cane, but always refused his offer of a ride to see a doctor.
How the siblings survived financially is not known. There has been no Social Security fraud. The woman is charged with no crime. She has been placed in a nursing home and is said to be “just fine.”
Thursday, November 13, 2008