She was born in Omaha Nebraska to Edna Amorette Easterly and George Orlando Holmes who preceeded her in death.
Husband Roger Warrick Garey & their adopted children, Deborah Lynn Garey & Roger Warren Garey; siblings Amorette (Ralph) Roach of Md; Gilbert(Evelyn) Holmes of California as well as many nieces & nephews survive.
Georgia suffered from anorexia/bulimia, & was a heavy smoker. These factors were instrumental in causing her death. Although her crypt shows 1920 as her birth date. That is not correct. She was born in 1917. Lying about her age seems silly to us now, but back then it was a 'big deal'. She told me she was born in 1917 when I came back to Flossmoor, Il. for a visit in the 1970's. I have confirmed that 1917 is correct date via multiple US censuses. Georgia was named after her father George because her family already had daughter Amorette, and wanted a son. A few years after Georgia was born, her parents had a son and chose to name him after his grandfather Gilbert. Georgia was the quintessential middle child, always center stage. She was a natural contortionist and ballerina. She could also tap dance and loved modern dance and jazz as well. Georgia was a lifelong Republican, against the ERA, a member of the John Birch Society, but was Pro-Choice. She ran an underground railroad that employed a "Mafia Doctor" to do safe abortions in and around Flossmoor, Illinois long before they were legal. Georgia could have been imprisoned for this, but she did not care because she said a woman should have the right to her own body. Like her mother's sister, Helen; Georgia could not bear children, so she and Roger adopted a son and daughter. I am that daughter. Mom was one in 100 million. As she lay dying, she had a ventilator running through her mouth and down her throat, yet she was able to tell both of her children "I love you " with tears running down her face. She was in complete organ failure. After that, I told the nurses to up the morphine and made sure she received her doses every 3 hours around the clock so that she would die peacefully and unafraid. I called the hospital every 3 hours when I was not there just to make sure she was getting the doses on time. She died on a cold February Sunday at high noon, in intensive care at Ingalls Memorial Hospital, Harvey Ill. The nurses had asked the us not to come that day until 3pm because they knew she was hanging on just for us, and they loved her so much they wanted her to die in peace. They knew that she would not die if we were there. She died a 12:00pm on Sunday, Feb 5, 1984. She had been in intensive care for 78 days and had endured 12 different surgical procedures. She was in constant pain. I would not have wished all that she went through on my worst enemy. She did not die peacefully. The nurses were correct in telling us not to come.
Here wake was held 5 days later, because people from all over the country had to fly in to pay their last respects to Georgia. I was horrified that my father requested an open casket. I can't begin to tell you how she looked, and how i begged my dad to close the casket, but he would not. She had never wanted a wake or memorial service. She simply wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered from the tops of the Teton Mountains in Wyoming. Sadly, my dad had her cremated and put in a mausoleum with the incorrect birth date carved into the marble. At the wake I learned how our mom had changed so many people's lives.
Many of the stories were astonishing, and some can't be repeated here, but the one that was the sweetest was from a man who looked like a hobo when he entered the wake. He came over to me and said that mom had been giving him grocery money for many years and he knew of others she helped as well. "Isn't that something?" I said, "my mom would not eat-yet she gave people money for food. "
Husband Roger Warrick Garey & their adopted children, Deborah Lynn Garey & Roger Warren Garey; siblings Amorette (Ralph) Roach of Md; Gilbert(Evelyn) Holmes of California as well as many nieces & nephews survive.
Georgia suffered from anorexia/bulimia, & was a heavy smoker. These factors were instrumental in causing her death. Although her crypt shows 1920 as her birth date. That is not correct. She was born in 1917. Lying about her age seems silly to us now, but back then it was a 'big deal'. She told me she was born in 1917 when I came back to Flossmoor, Il. for a visit in the 1970's. I have confirmed that 1917 is correct date via multiple US censuses. Georgia was named after her father George because her family already had daughter Amorette, and wanted a son. A few years after Georgia was born, her parents had a son and chose to name him after his grandfather Gilbert. Georgia was the quintessential middle child, always center stage. She was a natural contortionist and ballerina. She could also tap dance and loved modern dance and jazz as well. Georgia was a lifelong Republican, against the ERA, a member of the John Birch Society, but was Pro-Choice. She ran an underground railroad that employed a "Mafia Doctor" to do safe abortions in and around Flossmoor, Illinois long before they were legal. Georgia could have been imprisoned for this, but she did not care because she said a woman should have the right to her own body. Like her mother's sister, Helen; Georgia could not bear children, so she and Roger adopted a son and daughter. I am that daughter. Mom was one in 100 million. As she lay dying, she had a ventilator running through her mouth and down her throat, yet she was able to tell both of her children "I love you " with tears running down her face. She was in complete organ failure. After that, I told the nurses to up the morphine and made sure she received her doses every 3 hours around the clock so that she would die peacefully and unafraid. I called the hospital every 3 hours when I was not there just to make sure she was getting the doses on time. She died on a cold February Sunday at high noon, in intensive care at Ingalls Memorial Hospital, Harvey Ill. The nurses had asked the us not to come that day until 3pm because they knew she was hanging on just for us, and they loved her so much they wanted her to die in peace. They knew that she would not die if we were there. She died a 12:00pm on Sunday, Feb 5, 1984. She had been in intensive care for 78 days and had endured 12 different surgical procedures. She was in constant pain. I would not have wished all that she went through on my worst enemy. She did not die peacefully. The nurses were correct in telling us not to come.
Here wake was held 5 days later, because people from all over the country had to fly in to pay their last respects to Georgia. I was horrified that my father requested an open casket. I can't begin to tell you how she looked, and how i begged my dad to close the casket, but he would not. She had never wanted a wake or memorial service. She simply wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered from the tops of the Teton Mountains in Wyoming. Sadly, my dad had her cremated and put in a mausoleum with the incorrect birth date carved into the marble. At the wake I learned how our mom had changed so many people's lives.
Many of the stories were astonishing, and some can't be repeated here, but the one that was the sweetest was from a man who looked like a hobo when he entered the wake. He came over to me and said that mom had been giving him grocery money for many years and he knew of others she helped as well. "Isn't that something?" I said, "my mom would not eat-yet she gave people money for food. "
She was born in Omaha Nebraska to Edna Amorette Easterly and George Orlando Holmes who preceeded her in death.
Husband Roger Warrick Garey & their adopted children, Deborah Lynn Garey & Roger Warren Garey; siblings Amorette (Ralph) Roach of Md; Gilbert(Evelyn) Holmes of California as well as many nieces & nephews survive.
Georgia suffered from anorexia/bulimia, & was a heavy smoker. These factors were instrumental in causing her death. Although her crypt shows 1920 as her birth date. That is not correct. She was born in 1917. Lying about her age seems silly to us now, but back then it was a 'big deal'. She told me she was born in 1917 when I came back to Flossmoor, Il. for a visit in the 1970's. I have confirmed that 1917 is correct date via multiple US censuses. Georgia was named after her father George because her family already had daughter Amorette, and wanted a son. A few years after Georgia was born, her parents had a son and chose to name him after his grandfather Gilbert. Georgia was the quintessential middle child, always center stage. She was a natural contortionist and ballerina. She could also tap dance and loved modern dance and jazz as well. Georgia was a lifelong Republican, against the ERA, a member of the John Birch Society, but was Pro-Choice. She ran an underground railroad that employed a "Mafia Doctor" to do safe abortions in and around Flossmoor, Illinois long before they were legal. Georgia could have been imprisoned for this, but she did not care because she said a woman should have the right to her own body. Like her mother's sister, Helen; Georgia could not bear children, so she and Roger adopted a son and daughter. I am that daughter. Mom was one in 100 million. As she lay dying, she had a ventilator running through her mouth and down her throat, yet she was able to tell both of her children "I love you " with tears running down her face. She was in complete organ failure. After that, I told the nurses to up the morphine and made sure she received her doses every 3 hours around the clock so that she would die peacefully and unafraid. I called the hospital every 3 hours when I was not there just to make sure she was getting the doses on time. She died on a cold February Sunday at high noon, in intensive care at Ingalls Memorial Hospital, Harvey Ill. The nurses had asked the us not to come that day until 3pm because they knew she was hanging on just for us, and they loved her so much they wanted her to die in peace. They knew that she would not die if we were there. She died a 12:00pm on Sunday, Feb 5, 1984. She had been in intensive care for 78 days and had endured 12 different surgical procedures. She was in constant pain. I would not have wished all that she went through on my worst enemy. She did not die peacefully. The nurses were correct in telling us not to come.
Here wake was held 5 days later, because people from all over the country had to fly in to pay their last respects to Georgia. I was horrified that my father requested an open casket. I can't begin to tell you how she looked, and how i begged my dad to close the casket, but he would not. She had never wanted a wake or memorial service. She simply wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered from the tops of the Teton Mountains in Wyoming. Sadly, my dad had her cremated and put in a mausoleum with the incorrect birth date carved into the marble. At the wake I learned how our mom had changed so many people's lives.
Many of the stories were astonishing, and some can't be repeated here, but the one that was the sweetest was from a man who looked like a hobo when he entered the wake. He came over to me and said that mom had been giving him grocery money for many years and he knew of others she helped as well. "Isn't that something?" I said, "my mom would not eat-yet she gave people money for food. "
Husband Roger Warrick Garey & their adopted children, Deborah Lynn Garey & Roger Warren Garey; siblings Amorette (Ralph) Roach of Md; Gilbert(Evelyn) Holmes of California as well as many nieces & nephews survive.
Georgia suffered from anorexia/bulimia, & was a heavy smoker. These factors were instrumental in causing her death. Although her crypt shows 1920 as her birth date. That is not correct. She was born in 1917. Lying about her age seems silly to us now, but back then it was a 'big deal'. She told me she was born in 1917 when I came back to Flossmoor, Il. for a visit in the 1970's. I have confirmed that 1917 is correct date via multiple US censuses. Georgia was named after her father George because her family already had daughter Amorette, and wanted a son. A few years after Georgia was born, her parents had a son and chose to name him after his grandfather Gilbert. Georgia was the quintessential middle child, always center stage. She was a natural contortionist and ballerina. She could also tap dance and loved modern dance and jazz as well. Georgia was a lifelong Republican, against the ERA, a member of the John Birch Society, but was Pro-Choice. She ran an underground railroad that employed a "Mafia Doctor" to do safe abortions in and around Flossmoor, Illinois long before they were legal. Georgia could have been imprisoned for this, but she did not care because she said a woman should have the right to her own body. Like her mother's sister, Helen; Georgia could not bear children, so she and Roger adopted a son and daughter. I am that daughter. Mom was one in 100 million. As she lay dying, she had a ventilator running through her mouth and down her throat, yet she was able to tell both of her children "I love you " with tears running down her face. She was in complete organ failure. After that, I told the nurses to up the morphine and made sure she received her doses every 3 hours around the clock so that she would die peacefully and unafraid. I called the hospital every 3 hours when I was not there just to make sure she was getting the doses on time. She died on a cold February Sunday at high noon, in intensive care at Ingalls Memorial Hospital, Harvey Ill. The nurses had asked the us not to come that day until 3pm because they knew she was hanging on just for us, and they loved her so much they wanted her to die in peace. They knew that she would not die if we were there. She died a 12:00pm on Sunday, Feb 5, 1984. She had been in intensive care for 78 days and had endured 12 different surgical procedures. She was in constant pain. I would not have wished all that she went through on my worst enemy. She did not die peacefully. The nurses were correct in telling us not to come.
Here wake was held 5 days later, because people from all over the country had to fly in to pay their last respects to Georgia. I was horrified that my father requested an open casket. I can't begin to tell you how she looked, and how i begged my dad to close the casket, but he would not. She had never wanted a wake or memorial service. She simply wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered from the tops of the Teton Mountains in Wyoming. Sadly, my dad had her cremated and put in a mausoleum with the incorrect birth date carved into the marble. At the wake I learned how our mom had changed so many people's lives.
Many of the stories were astonishing, and some can't be repeated here, but the one that was the sweetest was from a man who looked like a hobo when he entered the wake. He came over to me and said that mom had been giving him grocery money for many years and he knew of others she helped as well. "Isn't that something?" I said, "my mom would not eat-yet she gave people money for food. "
