They were married for 63 years, and he loved her even when he didn’t know her anymore.
“You’re a nice lady, but I need Dorothy. Where’s Dot?” His brain, ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease, couldn’t recognize her, but his heart was filled with love for her.
She loved him so much, her heart was breaking. Tears filled her eyes as she held his hand and said, “I’m right here beside you, Joe.”
In Canonsburg, Pa., in August of 1940, an occasion of some note occurred: “Joe O’Brien, Dot Black get hooked–we mean hitched.” So read the headline of a special edition of the Daily Notes, where my popular Uncle Joe was the new sports editor.
My Aunt Dot was unusual in those days–a successful, highly paid businesswoman who ran a huge lumberyard. What a couple they were. He was a tall and handsome Irishman and she, a smiling and vivacious, dark-haired beauty.
Over the years, she helped him advance his career as a newspaperman until he became the chief copy editor of the Youngstown, Ohio, Vindicator. When a public relations opening became available in Chicago with the Illinois Bell Telephone Co., my aunt urged this dedicated newsman to take it. It was a good move; he ended his career as assistant vice president of public information, the authoritative “voice” of Illinois Bell. Always a newspaperman in his heart, he was much beloved by the press.
Misfortune struck mightily, but they fought it together.
Shortly after moving to Chicago, my Aunt Dot was nearly killed when a big bus tore through a stop sign and crashed into her car. She was in the hospital for months and then a wheelchair; they learned that she would not bear children. Nevertheless, she was courageous and fought to regain her health. He held her, and loved her through it.
In 1968, Uncle Joe, a cigar smoker, was rushed to the hospital with a mass in one lung, which was removed. My Aunt Dot held him and loved him back to health.
Now, many years later, my Uncle Joe has lost his last battle; he died last month. But he won the war, because he won my Aunt Dot’s heart, where he will live forever–her one and only Valentine.
