Family items mean a lot

Dear editor:

My mother, who was from Hot Springs, had a brain aneurysm right after Christmas several years ago. Even though they operated, she never fully recovered. Like most stoke victims, she was never able to walk, talk or eat. Her death occurred in Louisiana and after that, her husband moved to Arkansas.

We didn’t want to appear selfish, so unfortunately we didn’t retrieve her things. Her husband passed away in late June 2009; her things were then given away to a nonprofit agency in the area.

She had many family heirlooms that had sentimental value to her children. She also was married to our father for 36 years and she had accumulated a lot of items he had. Some of the things that meant the most were my great- grandmothers cut glass pieces, a picture of the “Hunt,” a mantle clock, butter churn, an antique oak table and chairs, antique oak icebox, a hall table, “a one- of- a- kind oil painting of a little girl and boy by a pond fishing” a work by her high school friend. It is signed “Betty Jo Ratchford.”

She also had an antique chest of drawers, oak wash stand, desk, mirror, plant stand and several other very old oil paintings. There were several china pieces, a very collectible “House” door stop and a Queen Bell. I have pictures of a lot of these things and other ways of identifying them.

My siblings and I would cherish each and every item we can recover. It won’t bring her back, but as part of the grieving process, it would help to have something to hold on to that belonged to her. And we would hopefully have something to pass on to our children and grandchildren.

I can be reached at 501- 282- 7930.

Thank you, Kathy Goodwin

Hot Springs