A song at twilight of Alzheimer's and love: a memoir

This is one daughter's story of Lois and Ralph Pearson, whose love of life and each other transcended the darkest moments of war, separation, heartache, and family tragedy to achieve a memorable state of grace spanning six decades of marriage. Paddock recalls her parents' early lives together on St. Paul's East Side, including their playful courtship on the city's ice rinks, as well as her own fond recollections of growing up in the post-war glow of the 1950s and '60s. Reflecting in part on the nature of memory, her book examines the confounding mysteries surrounding Alzheimer's as manifested in Lois and Ralph's experience, while remembering some of the stories that marked one family's journey through life.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	921 PADDOCK	Searching... Unknown

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"A Song at Twilight: Of Alzheimer's and Love" is a feature-length memoir by acclaimed Minnesota poet Nancy Paddock. The book tells the story of her parents' descent into the netherworld of Alzheimer's, and the challenges and choices for care that she and her sisters faced while confronting this most baffling and tragic of diseases, now afflicting millions of people and their families. This is one daughter's story of Lois and Ralph Pearson, whose love of life and each other transcended the darkest moments of war, separation, heartache, and family tragedy to achieve a memorable state of grace spanning six decades of marriage. Paddock recalls her parents' early lives together on St. Paul's East Side, including their playful courtship on the city's ice rinks, as well as her own fond recollections of growing up in the post-war glow of the 1950s and '60s.

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This touching, lyrical account of a couple's struggle with Alzheimer's and their mutual decline is also a beautiful tribute to Paddock's (Trust the Wild Heart) parents, Lois and Ralph Pearson. Paddock recounts their need for more and more help, her mother's slow but sure descent into the fog of Alzheimer's, and her father's brave albeit exhausting attempts to grapple with his wife's loss. Paddock herself struggles to accept this last stage of her parents' lives and see the people her parents once were in the frail and confused individuals they had become. She includes old photographs, letters her father wrote to her mother during World War II, letters her mother wrote to Paddock, oral histories, and bits of the songs they loved, along with entries from the journal Paddock kept during her parents' last, difficult years. Verdict An increasingly relevant topic as the U.S. population continues to age. Paddock shows readers how to appreciate each special-if excruciating-moment of a parent's last years, how to be present with them, and how to accept the heartbreak of a parent in decline. Most highly recommended.-Marcia Welsh, Dartmouth Coll. Libs., Hanover, NH (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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