Lorraine (Raczkiewicz) Dykstra Remembered by her Sister Shirley (Raczkiewicz)

Her sister Shirley Ann (Raczkiewicz) Longwell was 33 years old, when Lorraine (Raczkiewicz) Dykstra died. Shirley, my Mother, was very close to her older sister Lorraine. Lorraine lived on Cummings Street in Walker Michigan, outside of Grand Rapids. When Lorraine and John were married in 1941, Shirley was only five years old at the time. Shirley enjoyed staying over with her big sister since her family’s house on Milwaukee was small and crowded. Her Uncle Joe had a room, her parents had a room and later a bedroom was added on. There were boarders upstairs and in the little house behind the main house. When Shirley got older, she kept Lorraine company because Lorraine’s husband John was a truck driver and Lorraine didn’t like to stay alone. The house was on a country road with the houses far apart and fields and woods behind. Shirley remembers going ice fishing and cross country skiing with them on Whitefish and Big Star Lakes. Shirley also recounted a time when she was staying there overnight and John’s father John Sr. was disapproving of her bare legs since she had on shorts. Lorrainne defended her, reminding him, “She’s just a little girl.” When her daughter Sandra was born, John and Lorraine Dykstra lived at 501 Milwaukee, in the small house behind the one that was owned by her parents Anthony and Pauline. Shirley remembers that Lorraine gave birth at home to a two pound baby and that when the doctor left the house, he remarked, “That baby is not going to make it.” She remembers humidifiers and other measures that were taken to help Sandra to grow and that made a deep impression on her. My Mother likes to talk about which of our family “treasures” will go to which of the three daughters after she passes away. She related this story on December, 30, 2016 to me, her daughter, Paulette Longwell about pudding cups she had often used to serve pudding or tapioca, while we are growing up and how they related to Lorraine. She got the cups on the day, October 23, 1969, that her older sister Lorraine died. Lorraine and Sandy were going out Division Avenue to a big department store whose name she no longer remembered. The store had a certain, big doll there that they wanted to buy. Sandi left her car at Shirley’s house and rode with her mother. While they were gone, Shirley did the family laundry and hung it out on the clothes line. Sandy and Lorraine came back, carrying in a big doll and pudding cups to show to Shirley. One set of pudding cups had brown trim and another set had black trim. Shirley picked the ones with black trim. She invited her sister to stay for supper but Lorraine was feeling very unwell. She had meatloaf at home but was only going to have toast. Shirley had taken her one or two times to the doctor but they determined it was just indigestion. Lorraine left and Shirley started taking clothes down from the clothes line. It bothered her so she called their house and John was distraught. The next door neighbor June Bowman drove her out to their house. When she got there,the ambulance was just leaving. Shirley believes it was a heart attack, based on where the pain was and said, “Back then they didn’t think women had heart attacks.” Because the pudding cups were so connected to Lorriane, and I was the oldest daughter and had the most memories of Lorraine, my Mother said, “that’s why you should get the pudding cups.” Losing her sister had a big impact on Shirley. She had a close relationship with her older sister Lorriane and also continues to have one with Lorraine’s daughter Sandra.