Aunt Ada

QOTW was asking about our Aunt Ada on her comment under Lift them up. I thought I'd answer here instead of on a comment.

Aunt Ada showed signs of mental illness when she was a young mother. First she probably was anorexic as she used laxatives and hid food under her plate. At least during a time when she lived with my mom and dad. Ada's mother was pretty fanatic. She made Ada fast and pray for sick chickens, etc. A mother with little kids. There was an occasion where she was running down a street in La Junta I think, yelling and screaming. If she had needed help these days she could possibly have been more independent. They put her in a nursing home a couple of times but she was so completely institutionalized that she acted out and they took her "home". She was in the state mental hospital for 40 years. She experienced it all, electric shock, restraints, etc. There were stocks in the basement of the state hospital. You know, chairs with arm restraints. She got very agitated when I told her that I had seen them one time when some of us went into the tunnel. The tunnels ran underground from the south unit to the north unit. Anyway, she apparently experienced it all. We need to just remember the times when she came to the house for Thanksgiving or Christmas with all of us. My hubby visited her quite often and said she would stand up for herself. That probably got her into trouble, too. Bless her heart. She's now free. On her tombstone we put "Free at Last".