Good-bye Ning-A-Ning.

In Memory of

Charlie Pettis Tillis

January 29, 1918 - November 16, 2008



My grandmother passed away this morning around 11:00 am.

We called her Ning-A Ning.

Sounds crazy I know.

My oldest cousin (and her first grandchild) called her that when he was little, we all guess he was trying to say "Nanny" but it came out Ning-A-Ning.

It stuck and she insisted that all the grand kids call her that from then on.

I had posted about her being in the hospital and having to have an amputation a few entries back. She never totally recovered from that. She stopped eating and for the last three days had refused to take ANY of her oral medications.

Yesterday they discussed discharging her to Hospice House. She was not getting better and the doctors just felt it was a matter of time. They had planned on transferring her today or tomorrow.

My sister Deborah went up last night and she didn't know who she was. She thought Deborah was the tech coming in to turn her and told her to leave. After a little convincing she seemed to understand it was Deborah.

Early this morning she started struggling to breathe. I got the call that she was not doing well and started to get the kids and myself ready. My sister called a bit later saying not to bring the kids but to get there as quickly as I could. It was then I knew things were very serious.

When I arrived she was having a rough time breathing.

Everyone in the room was teary eyed.

It was incredibly sad.

She looked terribly uncomfortable so my sister Deborah asked her if she was hurting. She told her "yes my whole body hurts". This is one of the last things she was able to say.

Deborah spoke with the nurses and doctors and they agreed they would give her some more pain meds.

It was horrible watching her struggle but what made it harder was seeing my father loosing his mother.

It was incredibly heart breaking.





She passed very quietly. We all we in the room with her, my Dad on one side and my aunt on the other. There were many tears but there is comfort in knowing she is no longer in pain.

She is better off then the rest of us.

Right now she is dancing in Heaven with my Grandfather, her daughter Lois that passed away at age two and her son that lived for a very short time after his birth some time in 1940. He had what we now believe to be Emanuel Syndrome. He shared many of the same conditions Makily was born with and so it gives me peace knowing she is with him and the rest of our family....perfect, peaceful and whole.



Please pray for our family as we mourn this loss.


Makily resting in Ning-A-Ning's arms