Sarah's Alzheimer's Story

By Fontella Bateman

In telling Sarah's Alzheimer's Story, the writer takes you back to where it all began in the hills of Kentucky where Sarah was born. You may laugh, cry, or simply wonder as you go with her through her journey of life. The reader will get to know about the strong woman Sarah and how she endures many tragedies. One will find that even though memory loss is a large part of Alzheimer's disease, in Sarah's case, there is so much more. Throughout the story, the writer sometimes takes you back to incidents earlier in Sarah's life. In the writer's opinion, Sarah may be recalling something from the past, causing her to act the way she does. This seems to be especially true when she begins to see or talk to imaginary people. Dealing with this disease is often a struggle for Sarah and her family. But hopefully, you will see the joy in their laughter, the sorrow in their tears, and feel their strong love. It is hard to watch this very strong woman deteriorate mentally, physically, and lose her personality. But this writer believes that there is a reason, even if we do not understand it at the time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645593447

Book preview

Sarah’s Childhood

The year is 1925, and Sarah Jane is about two years old when her father is injured in an industry accident at a paper mill in Ohio where their family now lives. About two years later, her father dies, never really recovering from the accident. Not too many years later, Sarah Jane’s mother moves back to Kentucky and gets remarried. From that marriage, three more children are born: Charlie, Opal, and Leroy. Sarah Jane loves all of her brothers and sisters very much.

Even though Sarah Jane is a good little girl, one day, along with her brother Ben and some of her cousins, Sarah Jane decides to stop and play in a watermelon patch on her way home from school. Eating the ripe fruit is a great idea, but as they are laughing and playing around, one of the children throws a watermelon, and then someone else throws one. Before long, watermelons are smashed all over the place.

Here comes their older cousin, who is also the owner of the watermelon patch. Needless to say, he is furious and says, I don’t care how much watermelon you eat, but it’s a shame to waste all of that watermelon. Eating all of the busted watermelon is their punishment, and it would be safe to say that they will not want to see another watermelon patch, and they will definitely not be throwing watermelon again.

All of the children have chores to do at home. Sarah Jane is not exactly the perfect child, and this is apparent one morning when Sarah Jane’s mother says, Wash the dishes and put them away while I go outside to work.

Now Sarah Jane knows that if she washes and puts the dishes away, she is going to be late for school. Sarah Jane thinks, I’ll just put the dishes away dirty, and that’s exactly what she does, and then goes on to school. She should know that she is not going to get away with this.

Sarah Jane, what’s wrong with you? When I found those dirty dishes in the cabinet, I was mad as a wet hornet. She continues, I should make you go outside and get a switch. The next time you pull a trick like this, I will wear your behind out.

Sarah Jane’s fun-loving childhood comes to a halt when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. Now that Sarah Jane is twelve years old, it is her responsibility to help take care of her sick mother, and she is no longer able to attend school. At one point, Sarah Jane’s mother and stepfather decide to separate, and her stepfather leaves. Several years later, Sarah Jane’s mother passes away, and Sarah feels that she is too big to go back to school.

Romance as a Young Lady

Upon Sarah Jane’s mother’s death, her stepfather decides to come back and take her younger siblings to go live with him. Now a young lady, Sarah Jane moves in with her older brother Tom and his young family. Shortly after moving in with Tom and his family, Sarah meets a young man from Rocky Branch, Roscoe Henson. It is in the 1930s, and there are not a lot of social events in the hills of Kentucky.

One day when coming out of church, Roscoe sees this beautiful blond with blue eyes. She had heard about this young man, Roscoe, who plays guitar and banjo at the local square dance affairs, but Sarah Jane is not totally impressed.

In the late 1930s in this area of Kentucky, mining for coal is about the only occupation, and it is very dirty and dangerous work. Tom, his young family, and Sarah Jane move to Indiana so her brother, Tom, can find work. When Roscoe finds out that Sarah Jane has moved to Indiana, he starts writing letters to her, and she writes back. They communicate by mail for over two years.

Work is not panning out to be so great in Indiana, so Tom and his family move back to Kentucky. Roscoe races over to Tom’s house when he hears they are back. To his disappointment, Sarah Jane is still in Indiana and has decided not to come back at this time.

Sarah Jane’s paternal aunt invites her to come stay with her. Her aunt has a very nice house, and it is Sarah Jane’s responsibility to help clean the house. We already know how fond Sarah Jane is of housework, or lack thereof, from the dishwashing incident when she was a young girl. Since Sarah Jane’s aunt is very meticulous when it comes to housecleaning, after Sarah Jane cleans, her aunt takes a white glove and goes over the cleaned area. Even though it is definitely not her favorite thing to do, Sarah Jane is learning to clean properly.

Evidently, Roscoe’s love letters are winning Sarah Jane over because after several letters back and forth between Roscoe and Sarah Jane, she agrees for Roscoe to come to Indiana and drive her back to Kentucky where they are married.

Marriage, Children, and Tragedy

On November 18, 1940, Roscoe Henson and Sarah Jane Hardy are married by Butler Wagers, a minister of the Holiness Church in Clay County, Kentucky, with Lawrence Henson and Willie Henson as their witnesses. Out of this union, over time, nine children are born, eight boys and one girl. Before their second child, Sam, is born, they lose their firstborn, Berchal, through death.

Over the years, Roscoe, Sarah Jane, and their young family move to Baltimore, Maryland, and back to Kentucky, and back to Maryland, trying to find work. As time goes by, Shelby, Shafter, Escoe, Tony, Fontella, Roscoe Jr., and William Lee are born. Most of the children are born in Kentucky, but with their constant moving, some of them are born in Maryland.

While in Kentucky, Roscoe Sr. finds work mining for coal in the mines and in the shipyard when they live in Maryland. After a serious injury in the coal mines, when the mine collapses and caves in on Roscoe Sr., he never returns to the mines to work. Now he is incapacitated and not able to work.

Hard Work and More Tragedy

Two years pass before Roscoe Sr. recovers from his injury. Once he is able to work, they move back to Baltimore where Sarah Jane goes to work in a factory, packing tomatoes, and Roscoe Sr. works in the shipyard. Eventually, he loses his job, and alcohol begins to consume his life. Sarah Jane stands by him and continues to work and support the family, along with help from public assistance.

After Roscoe Sr.’s death in 1965, Sarah Jane decides to take off work for a short time but goes back to work in a factory packaging fruit, in a furniture factory, and in a paper product factory. She starts going back to church and accepts Jesus in her heart. Sarah begins to work in the church, doing whatever needs to be done. Sarah has many church friends; and sometimes on Sundays, she invites her church friends home with her for dinner.

One day, while working at the furniture factory, there is an accident with a machine, and Sarah’s thumb is cut off. After this accident, life is hard because Sarah cannot do what she considers everyday tasks. Shortly afterward, Sarah Jane moves her family to Ohio to be near her brother Tom and his family. They live in Ohio for a