March is National Women's History Month and a genealogist has come up with the topic "Did you have any female ancestors who died young or from tragic or unexpected circumstances? Describe and how did this affect the family?"
All deaths are tragic, some expected, but none more surprising than a physically fit 70 yr. old woman dying on her bike. She was on a bike trip, but one which began hours before in Acton, MA., with her leading The Nashoba Valley Pedalers, a group of riders to ride 12 miles to see the Lexington, MA parade in honor of Patriot's Day on April 16, 1990. On their return trip, she had a massive heart attack. A nurse was a rider, but the CPR couldn't save my mother. From what I recall, there were about 10 in the group, of which she was the president and tour leader.
A little background. She didn't drive until I was out of high school, so she biked, took a bus, or walked everywhere. Speaking of biking, for fun, she took long trips; for instance, many 100-mile-a-day trips, and her goal was 5,000 miles a year. There were bike tour trips to Russia, China, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands and she was due to do a bike tour in France just six weeks after her death. Along with biking, she enjoyed swimming, cross country skiing and in my early years, there was ice skating and tennis.
She was a widow, my non-athletic father died the year before. She lived alone and never wasted a minute between her sports and volunteering for six to eight organizations. I never got the chance to discuss her parents and grandparents or other older family members, as I had just begun doing genealogy. But she did give me a lot of her old DAR papers in December 1989, and four months later she was dead.
A side note. Two years later I was in London seeing a play. During the break, while in the restroom I had a nice conversation with a lady, we shared where we were from. I said Alexandria, VA and she said Acton. Naturally, I asked if she knew my mother. Yes! She did and even mentioned her death, the funeral, and the reception. I left with chills up and down my arm and every time I thought about that encounter for several years.
Note: The photo was taken by a good friend, and it was included in a large newspaper article about her, four years before her death.
Note: The photo was taken by a good friend, and it was included in a large newspaper article about her, four years before her death.