Diana McGraw's Mother

Diana McGraw's Mother (b 1868) was seventy-seven in 1945. She was frail and losing her memory.

When Diana McGraw began to cry upon receiving a telegram informing her of the death of her son Pat, her husband initially assumed the telegram carried news of the death of her mother. Diana reflected that, while she would indeed be very sad when she lost her mother, at least a child losing a parent would be in keeping with the natural order of things. For a parent to lose a child, on the other hand, was an inversion of the natural order and much more painful.