Eliza Fish

ELIZA N. FISH Eliza N. Fish, my Mom, died at home, December 8, 2008 at 9:32 pm. Her family and some friends were there with her. I would like to give my sincerest thanks to all of you who have been there for her during the past few years. Special thanks to Louise, who stood by me to help care for Mom during difficult times in her own life. Mom had met many people during the time she and Dad owned the Bait Shop. I can remember some of you who knew her. She remembered many, many more of you. She talked about how some had worked for her in the Bait Shop. Others had sold her bait; crabs, squid, mackerel, poggies, eels, clams, or some other bait. Some of you bought bait or she gave the kids something to catch crabs or some bait to catch flatfish off the docks, maybe a couple of hooks or little clam necks. Others stopped in to say “Hello” again each summer, get a little bait and the latest tips on where to find fish. There are so many of you who have asked about her and I would like to thank all of you for asking. It gives me great pride to know you remember her. Mom was an extraordinary woman, full of energy, like the Energizer Bunny who kept going and going. For the last 2 ½ years she kept up a pace that was too hard for any one person to keep up with, but physically her body was slowing down. Mom’s mind however, was still sharp as a tack. She always had a quick comeback for Louise or the girls when they would throw a joke or comment her way. There was a lot of this, believe me, the girls were always poking fun to keep her smiling. Eliza would entertain us with her stories from North Carolina and her life here. She was one of the few women of her generation that juggled operating and running a business and involved in her sons school activities and Den Mother. She always enjoyed riding through Galilee and Point Judith talking about the changes and how it used to be. Eliza loved to smoke and did so until she was 90+. One of the nurses came in and was pleased to see the “no smoking - oxygen” sign in the room and said you can’t smoke in here. We laughed and said it was there for Eliza! She was the one smoking! Eliza always had a list. There are many humorous stories about that. She never complained, but when she did not want to talk or do something we asked, she’d say, “OK, Goodbye”. Mom was relentless in her drive. She never stopped when she was working both mentally and physically. When her body got tired of standing she would sit down and do something at home or at the Bait Shop. This was a trait she passed along to many of us! Keep Going! I believe as she taught me – if you have something to do, DO IT RIGHT, and if you can’t run or walk you can still crawl, never give up – and she didn’t until it was her time to go home at last. Mom was all that a mother could be to me and my brother Ray. She was a loving, giving, caring individual. She always put us ahead of herself in her priorities. Whatever needs we had, be it financial, educational or other, always came before her own. Working at the shop she would say “Go ahead, do what you have to do I can handle it here, OK.” The offer was always there to help us. Mom and Dad both worked to save what little they made. She would reuse old shoe boxes we got in Wakefield from Clarks and Palmers shoe stores to pack bait in. Also she cleaned out 5-gallon oil pails and food containers from restaurants in Galilee. Mom would also move us out of her home in Sand Hill Cove each summer. We’d move to a cabin in Breakwater Village to get extra money for the family. When my brother and I were young, Mom and Dad would take us to North Carolina to visit her family and let me stay with my aunts, uncles and cousins up on their farms in the mountains. Both Ray and I are fortunate to have had such a wonderful caring Mom and Dad too. It was Mom’s wish to be at home when she died. For the past 2 ½ years she was able to with the help of Louise, myself, Matthew (her grandson), and other family plus a staff of loving caregivers to all of whom I am extremely grateful for. Mom had to go to the hospital a few times during the last 2 ½ years, but always came home in 2 or 3 days. On Tuesday, December 2, 2008, almost the exact day Dad had died in 2002, it was different. She couldn’t walk that day even with the aid of 2 staff caregiver. When I got home from lobstering, Suzy Castaldo, a nurse friend, came to pick up her daughter, Mandy (who is having a baby and naming her Kaley Eliza – coincidentally), Suzy said Mom’s right leg didn’t look right and I should take her to the emergency room. We called Narragansett Rescue and they took her to South County Hospital. After examination and diagnosis of her general health and consultations 2 or 3 days later, it didn’t look good. She had a fracture of the femur, the bone just below the hip, and the bone was very thin due to osteoporosis. Mom’s other problems made it too risky to operate. Mom had been there long enough and she said “GET ME UP. GET ME UP. I don’t want to be in this HOTEL any more. TAKE ME HOME”. That was her wish so they made her comfortable. We got a bed set up in her living room and took her home Monday, December 8th. When she got home, about 1:00 pm, she started shutting down her body and died at 9:32 pm, only a few short hours after she got home. The timing was unbelievable. She gave up her fight at the turn of the tide or the eye of the storm. The wind had been howling all that morning. When she came home it started to subside and that evening when she died, the wind died with her. I went out on the deck to get some air and the wind had stopped. It was so still, clear and heavenly quite outside then. Within a few short hours the wind was howling again and has been for 3 days now. I was thinking it was like when God parted the Red Sea so that Moses’ followers could cross. When I opened the door and stepped onto her deck the cool calm, tranquil air took her pain and our sorrows away. I felt a feeling of relief. Mom will be missed but not forgotten. Love from all of us, Johnny Eliza Fish, 94, died Monday at home in Narragansett. Mrs. Fish was co-owner with her late husband Ed Fish of Fish’s Bait and Tackle in Galilee. Born in Brevard, NC, she was the mother of John Fish Jr. of Narragansett and his brother. She was sister of Roland Nicholson of NY, grandmother of Jennifer and Matthew Fish and great grandmother of Suzanne, Christopher and Erin. The funeral will be held Monday at 11:00 AM in the AVERY-STORTI Funeral Home, 88 Columbia St., Wakefield. Burial will be private. Visiting hours Friday 5-7 PM.