Elizabeth Anne 'Libbi' Thomas 1960 – 2021

Nancy Kristen Miller – March 8, 1965 – November 29, 2019 At times, God sends angels in a different form. Ours was called Nancy. She came into this world weighing less than 2 pounds and we were told that she had Down’s Syndrome. At the time, Down’s Syndrome babies weren’t expected to live past their teenage years, if that long. Not only did Nancy survive being premature and spending her first month in the hospital, she also blessed our lives for 54 years. She was loveable and she was loved by all. Nancy had an infectious giggle. She thought things were funny that other people might not, like if someone fell, stumped their toes, sneezed, or had the hiccups, she would break out in giggles that would have the person in pain giggling through the pain. She also loved country music and not only knew every word to every country song, but knew every country artist, where they were from, who they were married to, how many children they had, and the names of each of those children. She spent hours in her room listening to her music, singing along, and because she had more rhythm than anyone I know, she danced to each song. We were often the audience for the performances that she planned to take on the road. She always considered herself a star and in a way she was. She was our shining star! There was also a bit of a mischievous side to Nancy. For instance, we would sit for hours sorting out her hundreds of CDs and putting them in CD cases so that they wouldn’t get scratched. A few hours would pass and when we would go back into her room, every single CD would be out of the case and scattered around her room. This too she found to be very funny. She found great joy in having us look for a particular CD for hours. When we would give up on the search, she would pull the CD from the place where she had hidden it and giggle. Nancy enjoyed the TV series, Dallas. After its final season, she continued to watch it on CDs. Thank goodness we could buy each season on CD. As one season wore out, we would have to replace it. She loved the whole Ewing family, especially J.R. It was very upsetting to her that anyone would have the audacity to kill J.R. Until the next season came out, we were all questioned about who killed J.R... Needless to say, she was one happy girl when J.R. survived.  Where some may consider having a child with special needs a sentence, our family considered Nancy a Blessing. She brought boundless love and joy to our lives, and we miss her every single day!

Though I made many requests for one, my parents refused to get me a baby sister like I wanted. What I wouldn’t realize until much later was that I always had one. My aunt Libbi and I grew up together. Though she was born sixty (!!) years ago with Down Syndrome, she was always the sister I never had. We vacationed together, played together and of course, sometimes fought...as sisters do. While we never looked at Libbi as having a disability, she certainly had some limitations but always seemed to have a dream life in spite of them. Worldwide travel, famous friends, the daily glass of wine at exactly 5:01pm as soon as her “stories” were over-the list goes on and on. In the past few years, however, those limitations have grown more severe with her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Emery Catherine This is how a young friend described her little Emi-Cate and that made me smile. It was also a reminder of an encounter I had with a young man who was shopping with his parents during the holiday season. Even with his mask on I recognized his gait, his small round stature, and his eyes. Oh, those eyes sparkled with a splash of mischief and a twinkle of love.

Libbi was admitted into Hospice recently. Home Health was no longer meeting her needs. She remains alert, happy, has a good appetite and a hearty laugh which brings us all joy, but she is very frail. When she’s frustrated she’s quick to threaten me “you just wait til Patti gets home”. Early last week we were snuggled down watching our Hallmark Channel and she randomly said, “ I’m not your Mother, you know!”

Photo by Aaron Burden

If you’ve read the story of Libbi turning 60, you’ll know that our childhood was normal. Our lives have been normal. Honestly. We were likely raised much like everyone of you. We lived in a small community, we walked to the movies on Saturday afternoon, went to church on Sunday, we bickered over who got the one bathroom before school.