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Sense of Direction

Wild goose chase

June Donohue
Posted 3/24/23

  I called a friend of mine on Sunday, March 12th, to see if she knew about the new location of our church. She knew that we had bought a bank in Westwood, N.J. which would be turned into a …

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Sense of Direction

Wild goose chase

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 I called a friend of mine on Sunday, March 12th, to see if she knew about the new location of our church. She knew that we had bought a bank in Westwood, N.J. which would be turned into a church. Koreans had bought our church months before, and they were nice enough to not take full occupancy until we found another location. 

During our conversation she mentioned that there had been a Memorial Service at 1 PM at our church for Rose Wandelmaier and that she hadn’t been feeling well enough to go. I was in total shock because I didn’t even know that Rose had died. It was 1:30 when she sprung this news, and I told her that even though it was late I was determined to go because I knew Roy and Elizabeth (her parents) would still be there and I would have a chance to  express my condolences.  Since Michael had my car in Nyack, I called my daughter to see if her son, Ryan was home and could drop me off at the church. I heard her yell, “Can someone drop my mother off at her church?” I heard my ex-son-in-law, Scott yell back, “I can do it and I can leave right now.”  I wasn’t even ready when he pulled into my driveway.  

When he dropped me off at the church, I found myself in the middle of a flock of Koreans.  Should I run out on Forest Ave. and flag Scott down, who I call my outlaw.  We both get a kick out of that label but it fits, since he’s no longer my in-law.  

I had my cell phone with me so all I had to do was call him to come back and get me. The only problem with that was there’s bad reception in that area. A Korean suggested that I go outside where there would be better reception. That turned out to be another wild goose chase because there was no reception out there either.  

Next my son, Michael pulled into the parking lot and couldn’t understand why he couldn’t reach me. We decided to go to my house and go online to see where and when the Memorial service for Rose was. What a fiasco! The friend who had misdirected me, felt so bad when she heard that she had caused so much confusion. I told her not to worry about it because I also get mixed up at times. 

Rose was born disabled and was confined to a wheelchair. It took many trips to doctors in New York City and elsewhere before they found out the cause of her disability since it was so rare.  Roy and Elizabeth had to lift her so much that they both had back problems and had to go to a chiropractor every week.  

A few years ago Rose and her parents relocated to Saugus, Mass. where Rose’s sister, Lea now lives. Lea and her husband, Matt now have two little boys, Asher and Oliver. I get Christmas cards with pictures of the whole family from them every year. Rose looked so good on the recent cards, especially her posture. 

In my next column there will be more about Rose and a great picture of the family. There will also be an explanation of why Rose wound up in a hospital in Boston and why she had to be airlifted by helicopter to another hospital before she died.  

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