When we got to the hospital my staff was still over busy and after a few hours sleep I went on duty with Mrs. Janaski again. It was not for long. She lived only two days after reaching the hospital. I was so thankful she was in hospital when she died as the crying, moaning men women and children around her from neighbours' homes in her last hours would have been hard to bear. There had been many sessions while I was there, try as I would to keep the room empty. The husband stayed in the hospital with his wife, and we had also brought in the baby. And now he must in all his grief prepare for burial. He had to have a rough coffin made by a carpenter, but there was nothing rough about it when we laid the young woman in. It was beautifully draped with native shawls and embroidered silks from their own dear land. It was as beautiful to them as our's with all our lovely flowers. And thus the neighbours bore her to the church and saw her placed in her last resting place. I hope their Christian faith went with them in their sorrow. I hope they, like the Israelites, did not feel that they had left God in their home land. But no, I think they felt God very near all that trying two weeks in the kindness and help we were able to give them.

The Funeral of Mrs. Maria Janoska 1934. Photo courtesy of Mary Filo Lenk.
“And thus the neighbours bore her to the Church and saw her placed in her last resting place.”

Friends of Bradlo - Newsletter Copyright by Rudy Bias © 1997
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Last update on March 29, 1997.