Mary Lincoln's presence at Abraham's death-bed

[Rob Wick]

When my mother died I was the only sibling who was in the hospital, but I had stepped outside her room to talk with my sister-in-law (although Mom was not alone at the time) and that's when her breathing stopped. I never thought about it being anything more than a coincidence. At first we were telling her it was OK to let go, but then my oldest sister felt weird about doing it because my mother had fought for so long and we didn't want her to think we had given up (although it was obvious that she wasn't going to last the night). The one thing we all discussed was could she even hear us? She was in a coma for the last two days of her life and I still don't know if she could or not.

I think that what Stanton did might seem cruel to us, but in the context of what was going on, Mary's shrieking and wailing did no one any good. I would have sent her out as well.

Best
Rob