Mary Orinick 1907-1998

Aunt Mary was the oldest of Matthew and Anna's children.  Born on or around April 10, 1907, she lived to 91 years old and spent at least 70 of those years living on the family farm.   Mary had a hard life, but she also had one of the strongest spirits I have known.  When she was about 12 years old, Mary fell on the ice and broke her back.  There wasn't much doctors could do for her back then, so her back was never reset.  As a result, she became more and more stooped over as the years went by.  By the time I knew her she was already bent over in a permanent sitting position. 

That disability never stopped her.  When Matthew died, his will stipulated that any of his daughters who remained unmarried would always have a home on the farm.   Although other family members came and went, Mary was the constant, center of the family.   The farm was her home and she stayed.

She was 28 when her father died and 32 when her mother died.  Her mother was not well for many years before her death so Mary began keeping house and raising her younger siblings at an early age.  She was about 15 when her mother lost a set of twins.  Although 3 more children were born after that, Anna wasn't well enough to care for them, so it fell to Mary to raise them.   When her brother Bill and his wife worked the farm, they had 2 daughters.  Mary took care of them while their parents worked.   When Bill turned the farm over to Ted, Ted & his wife had 2 sons and Mary continued to perform the same functions, caring for the babies and keeping house.

I always thought of Mary as the family matriarch.  Despite her physical condition, she was a strong woman.  She planted a vegetable garden every year, chopped wood for the stove, cooked, cleaned and raised 7 children.   My family visited the farm just about every weekend when I was growing up and  I remember her as having strong opinions and working very hard.   She hated having her picture taken.  I remember her angry at times, but I also remember her laugh.   During the last few years of her life she lived pretty much alone.  Various people would check on her, but mostly she sat on the side of her bed all day, with everything she needed within reach. She was independent and strong to the end.

Mary kept a sort of diary over the years.   Written on the margins of old phone books and newspapers, she recorded her thoughts each day.   I have a bag of these crumpled notes and have tried a few times over the years to transcribe them, but it is not easy.  I hope to be able to do it someday.