Aunt Nita’s Funeral

It was a difficult and emotional day for my family because we buried another one of our own. My great-aunt, Nita, passed away unexpectedly on September 29, 2011. It came as a shock and unfortunately most of us didn’t get to say goodbye or tell her we loved her.

Aunt Nita was a feisty old woman who wouldn’t take shit from anyone. If she thought something she made it known and was unapologetic for it. I greatly admired her for that. She was cool too. I have recent memories of having a shot or joint with her and playing Guitar Hero World Tour. She was better than most of us on the drums.

Her baby brother, Uncle Butch, died less than a month and a half before she did and she never quite recovered. She was the eldest of my great-grandma’s children and she always expected to be the first to go. She felt guilty for out-living him. 

She loved the Native American culture and married into the Kaw nation. She and her husband adopted a full-blooded Native American boy a few years after her only child died of SIDS. Recurrent miscarriages prevented her from giving birth again. 

She and I had a lot in common and I will miss her. She was one of the strongest women I’ve ever known and I admired and loved her a lot. 

Her death makes me worry even more about my grandma, as well as my great-uncle, Delmar. They are the last of her surviving siblings.

On this day..

• Attempted Suicide - 2007
• Ravings of a Miserable Soul - 2005