Monday, May 26, 2014

Papa's pension

"I didn't care for neither one of them, to tell you the truth about it. I wanted to get away from both of them. I wanted to get me a house and crawl in it all by myself," says 84-year-old Irene Triplett of her parents. She had it rough growing up in North Carolina. She started chewing tobacco in the 1st grade and only made it to the 6th grade, constantly teased about her father (SECOND FROM THE RIGHT IN THE PHOTO ABOVE) being a traitor. Pvt. Mose Triplett (b.1846) had fought with both the Confederate and Union troops during the Civil War. Irene's mother, Mose's second wife who was 50 years his junior, lost 3 babies before Irene and her brother were born. Irene inherited her mother's mental disabilities, and shortly after Mose died at the age of 92, they both ended up in the workhouse for the next 17 years. When it shut down, they ended up in a private nursing home, with Irene continuing as a resident decades after her mother's death in 1967. It was only last year after she broke her hip that she was transferred to a skilled nursing facility in Wilkesboro. The cost, borne by Medicaid, is offset by the pension of $73.13 that she still receives monthly from the Department of Veterans Affairs for her father's military service in the 1860s.

1 comment:

  1. That is a rather fascinating account of a complicated history. It can also be useful for making a side-to-side comparison of veteran conditions and policies. Ultimately, our soldiers should be well-accounted for and their welfare should be maintained, as they have been agents of nation building. Should our country even hope to legitimize its being in the eyes of generations, it must do that.

    Jan Dils @ Fight4Vets

    ReplyDelete

You may add your comments here.

Labels