Last weekend’s winter storm took the life of a beloved 93-year-old aunt in South Carolina.
A 93-year-old woman in South Carolina has died after leaving her home during last weekend’s historic winter storm.
Neather Kelly was supposed to turn 94 next month, with her family preparing to celebrate the milestone birthday. Before the celebration, her loved ones warned her to remain inside and stay warm as last weekend’s winter storm brought a blast of snowy weather to their small South Carolina town.
A widow who lost her son years back, Kelly had multiple family members who continued to check on her. Unfortunately, Kelly’s dementia made her unable to fully heed their warnings to stay inside.
“Although she was my aunt, she was like a mother and grandmother to us all,” explained her niece Brenda Austin to People. “After her husband passed, she lived alone. She was very independent, but we checked on her daily.”
The family let her keep her car despite her diagnosis, wanting her to hold some semblance of independence. However, Kelly decided to venture out during the winter storm, driving her car through the below-freezing temperatures for reasons unknown. She took the drive Jan. 24, and a neighbor later found her vehicle abandoned in a ditch.
Austin added, “People had talked to her, told her to stay in the house.”
The neighbor saw the car in the water-filled hole with Kelly’s purse inside. They saw a relative’s information in the handbag and called 911. Police began searching for Kelly during the storm, amid low visibility from heavy rain.
As the search waged on, another of Kelly’s nieces decided to look in an unlikely yet familiar street. The occurrence proved useful, given Kelly’s diagnosis.
People with developing dementia frequently want to go to places they went to when they were younger,” shared Austin’s daughter, Stephanie Bell, to the news outlet. “She was found across the street from a church they used to go to.”
Unfortunately, the elderly woman never made it back to her home in the extreme winter weather. The niece found Kelly curled up near a power pole, a short walk from her house. Her loved one, however, has found a silver lining in the tragedy. Through it all, she kept her spark alive with her love of sparkles and high heels.
“And at 93 years old, she was still wearing heels,” added Austin. “She loved her fashion. Everything bedazzled or sparkly, that was her.”
Now her family and community are grieving the loss of an elder turned ancestor. Despite their grief, they remain united through the pictures she kept of the family, as they now represent her legacy.
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Source: Black Enterprise
