Forever in My Heart: A True Story of Coincidence and Destiny

By Jeannie Walker

This is a true story.
Murder is a tragedy for all victims.
My grandmother was murdered and buried unidentified when my dad was a young child. Fifty years later I found her grave.
Taking a trip back to where it all began raises many more questions than it answers.
Were the strange and terrible forces gathering around the tragedy merely coincidences or destiny in the making?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeannie Walker
• Release date: Mar 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310612442

Jeannie Walker

Award-Winning AuthorFirst and foremost, I want to thank you for choosing my true stories over many others that are available to you.I am sincerely grateful that you’ve chosen my books to read.Bio: My debut book (true crime story) “Fighting the Devil” was selected as the 2010 BOOK OF THE YEAR SILVER AWARDS WINNER and 2011 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS FINALIST in TRUE CRIME.My books also include a true story about my near death experience and return from death’s door “I Saw the Light”.A true story about my encounter with a ghost and other ghostly encounters "Thomas, The Friendly Ghost".A full color illustrated children’s short story “The Rain Snake”- a true story about the magic of a Native American Indian Legend and the magic in prayer.I studied creative writing in New York and Connecticut and a member of the International Association of Writers. I am an avid reader and a real-life Sherlock Holmes.

Book preview

FOREVER IN MY HEART

A True Story of Coincidence and Destiny

by

Jeannie Walker

SMASHWORDS EDITION

*****

PUBLISHED BY:

Jeannie Walker on Smashwords

Forever in My Heart

A True Story of Coincidence and Destiny

Copyright © 2014 Jeannie Walker

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

*****

Forever in My Heart

A True Story of Coincidence and Destiny

Dedicated to:

My dad and my grandmother, whose spirits watch over me

*****

Table of Contents

Author’s Note

Chapter 1- Murder Leaves Its Mark

Chapter 2 - Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 3 - Murder Investigation

Chapter 4 - The Nature of Things

Chapter 5- A The World Can be a Cruel Place

Chapter 6 - Admiration and Devotion

Chapter 7 - Legends From the Past

Chapter 8 - Trials and Tribulations

Chapter 9 - God Has the Answers

Chapter 10 - An Amazing Sight

Chapter 11 - A Promise

Chapter 12 - Hope

Chapter 13 -A Faithful Compass

Chapter 14 - Ideals are Like Stars

Chapter 15 - Blazing Bullets

Chapter 16 - Expect the Unexpected

Chapter 17 - The Future is an Odyssey

About the Author

***

List of Illustrations

# 1 ... Jewelry of Murder Victim

# 2 ... Burial Site

# 3 ... Atoka County Sheriff

# 4 ... The Great Depression

# 5 ... Seeing into the Future

#6 ... Indian Woman in Tipi

(Photo © Sergey Novikou)

# 7 ... Native American Storytelling

# 8 ... Indian Warrior

# 9 ... Indian Playing Sad Song

(Photo © Francisco Diazpagado)

#10 ... Beautiful Indian Maiden

#11 ... Hunting Buffalo

Sketch courtesy of Sherry Odom

#12 ... Three Sisters

#13 ... Dressed Up as an Indian

#14 ... Rattlesnake About To Strike

#15 ... Dad in his twenties

#16 ... Clark Gable in ‘Gone with the Wind’

#17... Dad as an Indian Chief

(Sketch courtesy of Sherry Odom)

#18 ... Dad as a General

(Sketch courtesy of Sherry Odom)

#19 ... Nurse Running Down Hospital Hallway

#20 ... Doctors Pushing Patient on Gurney

#21 Jesus Standing At Foot of Bed

(Photo ©Simon Dewey)

#22 ... Dad in a Coffin

#23 ... A Lovely Image

#24 ... Old Newspaper

#25 Indian Grandmother

(Sketch courtesy of Sherry Odom)

#26 ... Dowsing for Human Remains

#27 ... Finding Unmarked Grave

#28 ... Cousins and Friends by Grave

#29 ... Hal and Ruth Ishmael

#30 ... Tombstone for my Grandmother

#31 ... Sheriff Charles G. Maxwell

#32... Deputy Eugene 'Gene' Moore

#33 ... Raymond Hamilton

#34 ... Wanted Poster

#35... 1934 Ford (Death Car)

#36... Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker

#37 ... Clyde Barrow Tombstone

#38 ... Stringtown Monument

#39 ... Award-Winning Country Singer

#40 ... First Man on the Moon

#41 ... Ronald Reagan

#42 ... International Space Station

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Authors of true stories do their best to tell their tales based on facts, and recalling recollections of their own and others.

Do you believe a coincidence is something that is not planned or arranged but seems like it is?

Do you believe in destiny?

Do you believe we are called to be architects of the future?

I have learned true wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we know about life, and the world around us.

I have discovered most of the shadows in our lives are caused when we stand in our own sunshine.

I was a young child when I learned the less you have the more it hurts if you lose it, and everything you see is something you cannot have.

As an adult, I learned the heart has its own memory. In those memories and the precious keepsakes of life with the future belonging to those who believe in the majesty of their dreams.

There is a fine line between dreams and reality. It is up to us how we draw that fine line.

We can make the drawing in black and white or in beautiful colors.

I believe we have to grab our dreams, and never let go if we want to find the message they are bringing.

I believe words become a life of their own once they are printed.

The printed words in this book are my memories and reminiscences, and recollections of others. They now have a life of their own.

My story begins a long time ago, when a murder left its mark.

*The names of some individuals have been changed. An asterisk (*) indicates such names the first time each appears in the book.

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Chapter 1

MURDER LEAVES ITS MARK

To live in the hearts we leave behind, is not to die.

~ Thomas Campbell

HER EYES ARE OPEN ...

as if staring at someone or something.

A small dog walks up and begins licking on her face.

She does not see the domesticated canine.

She does not see or hear any of the freight trains whizzing past her.

Dried blood is matting her hair into a tangled mess from a large wound behind her left ear.

She is clutching two rings on her fingers. One is her cherished engraved orange blossom design ring and the other vintage turquoise.

Jewelry of Murder Victim

A hiker out for his morning jog finds her lying flat on her back in a slippery patch of frozen pasture.

He immediately notices her head is covered in blood, and telephones for help.

The local sheriff quickly arrives at the scene.

He checks for a pulse, but there is no heartbeat.

She is not breathing, and her body is cold to the touch.

The officer immediately knows she is dead.

He examines her decomposing body, and finds a large, gaping hole on the left side of her head.

He believes she is a victim of foul play, and was shot at close range.

He promptly notes the condition of her body, and the clothing she is wearing — a black coat trimmed with black fur, with Dolly Varden shoes on her feet.

She has no pocket book with her, and there are no means of identification in any of her clothing.

Dragging marks at the location leads the sheriff to surmise the female victim was killed some other place, and the killer was attempting to hide the body.

After roping off the crime scene, the victim is taken to Zweigel Funeral home.

Dr. Rose, a certifying physician, begins examining the body. He estimates the dead woman was around thirty to thirty-five-years of age.

She is 5 ft. 3 in. tall, and weighs 125 pounds with no natural marks that might help identify her.

He finds a bullet hole behind her left ear, and an exit wound on the right side of her head. Powder burns indicate the shot was fired at close range.

Bruising on the body leads the medical examiner to believe the woman was dragged on the ground after she died.

The cause of death is murder by gunshot.

****

Chapter 2

ASHES TO ASHES

"To live in the hearts we leave behind, is not to die."

~ Thomas Campbell

MORBID CURIOSITY ...

is brewing in the small town..

The funeral home is buzzing as more than two hundred come to view the body of the murdered woman.

Grave tenders are busy at the cemetery finishing digging a grave.

Evergreens surrounding the new gravesite are swaying in the brisk breeze as if sending out a welcome for its newest arrival.

A gentle mist begins falling from the low hanging clouds as if weeping for the unidentified murder victim who is about to be buried.

No cars are following the hearse in the funeral procession that day, and no family or friends are waiting at the gravesite to say their goodbyes.

A sympathetic undertaker who willingly paid for the mahogany coffin from his own pocket was the only person there.

This was a man who did not cry easy, but today tears were welling up in his eyes as the coffin was slowly being lowered into the ground.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, and doing his best to