Epilogue
Ethel
Et and Ed were married in July 1941 and moved to an apartment on St Paul St. When Ed was drafted Et moved back to Gorham St.
When Ed was assigned to a camp for a couple of months, and off-base housing could be obtained, Et moved to the area and they rented an apartment. So, just as Pearl followed Gene around, Et followed Ed around. Ed was selected for Officer Training School, completed it, and became a 2nd Lieutenant in the Medical Administration Corps. (Ed was a pharmacist.) In the spring of 1945 Ed was shipped to the Pacific. He departed from San Francisco. (Bucky at that time was stationed outside of Monterey, and on the weekend he went up to San Francisco and spent a day with Et and Ed before he shipped out.)
When Ed was discharged in 1946 he and Ethel both moved into the Gorham St house until they could find a house to buy. Ellen was born while Et and Ed were living on Gorham St. In 1947 Et and Ed bought the house on Laurelton Rd. They were to live in the Laurelton Rd house for 57 years.
Et and Ed enjoyed living in Rochester. They had a large circle of friends and relatives, and they enjoyed the concerts at the Eastman Theatre, the museums, and the occasional professional basketball game. (At that time the Rochester Royals were in the National Basketball League, later to become the N B A.) Several vacations were spent at a cottage on Canandaigua Lake. Pearl, Gene, and Jon joined them at the cottage for a few of these vacations. (While Et and Ed enjoyed living in Rochester, on trips they would meet people who would ask how they could stand living in a place like Rochester. Usually Ethel would smile and say "We like it there." But she really took a burn when strangers spoke that way about Rochester or the Rochester weather. And Ethel hated the Rochester winters. Et could knock Rochester winters, but a stranger couldn't, not in her presence anyway.)
Et also became an excellent cook, and she, too, enjoyed cooking and baking for friends and family. Having Thanksgiving dinner on Laurelton Rd was a major treat. She enjoyed trying new recipes and at restaurants, trying new dishes. While Ed didn't really do any of the cooking, he was an avid reader of Gourmet magazine.
When Ellen and Martin were in high school Ethel started working behind the counter at the drug store at which Ed worked. Their trips abroad and in this country were financed by Et's part-time work. They traveled to the Caribbean and Europe on their own. Later they took trips sponsored by Elderhostel in this country and Canada, and also to Europe. Several of their Elderhostel trips were to Arizona in the winter, partially to escape the Rochester winter and also to visit with Joe and Shirley Heit, Ed's brother and sister-in-law.
In retirement they were volunteers for Meals-On-Wheels, the Rochester Museum, and they were also teacher's assistants at a public school. Ed also did readings for books-on-tapes.
As a child Ethel had mastoiditis and this probably was the cause of her deafness later in life. She broke her right arm as an adult and it never set properly resulting in major loss of strength and use of her right arm and hand. In 1989 she was diagnosed with colon cancer and had a colon resection. She had adult onset diabetes. She also had arthritis, at first in her hands and later in her tail bone. Walking, which had been one of their daily activities became impossible for her. She gave up driving when she developed macular degeneration of the retina in her 80s. She was also being treated for Parkinson's disease. In the spring of 2004 Et was diagnosed with breast cancer that had metastasized. She died in August 2004 at the age of 85.
Ed has had a hernia operation and has had plastic lenses inserted in his eyes. In 1989, 2 weeks after Et had her colon cancer operation; Ed was operated on for cancer of the bladder. He had a urostomy, and has been doing well. He has had neuropathy of his feet which, along with Et's arthritis pretty much put a halt to their daily walks. The neuropathy of the foot also required a partial amputation of the big toe on his right foot in the spring of 2004.
In June of 2004 Et and Ed moved into a retirement home in Rochester where Ed is now living.
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