It takes “N” about an hour to walk from her home to Frisch’s where she eats lunch alone there once per week.
“I get the fish for lunch because fish is brain food,” N told me.
I met her on Beechmont in front of Immaculate Heart of Mary (where she happens to be a parishioner) during her long 60 minute venture back home after eating. Before she suffered the brain aneurysm that slowed her walk and paralyzed her left arm, the trek would have taken 10 minutes or less.
Meet N
We sat down at a bench near Arby’s and chatted while the Beechmont lunch traffic roared by us. N spoke to me directly, intelligently, and with a confidence that elevated the volume of her voice over the bustling Beechmont traffic.
“I go to the Daniel Drake Center twice a month for my appointments,” N told me. It’s much nicer now that UC took it over. I used to be terrified of Drake after Donald Harvey killed those patients by pulling their plugs. Did you know he called himself the ‘angel of death?’ I considered the Drake a haunted house, but it’s not like that any more.”
N was born and raised in Loveland. She graduated from Ohio University with a degree in journalism. For a couple years she wrote press releases for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. After she got married, she put her career aside to start a family. She and her husband lived in Pittsburgh and then Orlando. They have six children together.
“I flat lined twice on the table when I had my stroke,” N told me. “But Saint Peter wasn’t ready for me yet. I saw my father-in-law and my grandmother, who were both dead by the way, and I talked to them and they told me to go back, so I did.”
Two years after her stroke, N’s husband left her.
“He said he didn’t sign up for a stroke,” said N. “That’s what he told me when he left. The fact that he was a Steeler’s fan should have been a red flag for me.”
While N’s husband was not much for vows, N tells me he is still a good father to their children.
Four of her six children still live in Pennsylvania. Two are in college, one in high school, and one is a mechanic. The remaining two are school aged and live locally to Cincinnati. “My parent’s have custody of them,” she told me.
“Do you see them often?” I asked.
“Not as much as I’d like,” she said. “I just want them to have a normal life.”
Now walking together up Beechmont, N’s face lit up when she told me how her mechanic son took her to the ocean this summer. “He met me in Columbus and we flew out from there,” she said beaming. “It was amazing! Just gorgeous!”
“Somebody pretty much calls me everyday to talk,” said N about her children. “They’re good kids and check up on me a lot.”
Before we parted ways, I asked her if she had any advice to offer people. She replied, “Walk at least a mile a day.” Then she ventured off slowly atop a long driveway that leads toward a cut through behind a plaza that will take her home.
If you see N out walking up Beechmont, she probably won’t take you up on a ride if you offer one. She walks because she wants to. However, if you happen to see her enjoying a fish sandwich at Frisch’s, maybe ask to join her. I think she’d enjoy your company.
Did you miss Beechmont Stories (Part Three)? Check it out here.
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I have seen “N” at church, Kroger and walking down Beechmont for quite some time now and I am not at all surprised by her tenacious spirit and her dislike for the Steelers 😂. She is truly an inspiration! Thanks for sharing!