LaRue Burnett Wilde

2016-07-31

I've been thinking for several months about a memory I have of LaRue Burnett Wilde that I want to document and share with her children and other extended Burnett family members. For any who may not know LaRue Burnett Wilde was the 2nd daughter and child of Kenneth and Melba Burnett. The below photo was taken about the time of this memory.

As best as I can recollect, LaRue, who lived with her family near Kansas City, Missouri, traveled to Bountiful, Utah to visit her younger sister Marjorie Burnett Hess(my mother), who was raising five children as a single parent while her husband, Major Jay Hess USAF was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. I believe this trip occurred in the early 1970's , between 1970 and 1972.  Perhaps someone else can narrow down the time more precisely. (maybe the same trip as her brother Byron''s funeral in January 1971?) I recall that her visit lasted several days, maybe a week. I know that my mother appreciated and was glad for her visit. 

The most memorable part of her visit for me was her response to an injury she sustained. Someone (perhaps myself) had left a metal toolbox on the floor of our living room near the front door while using a tool to make some kind of repair. LaRue was walking barefoot through the front room and accidentally smashed her foot into the corner of the toolbox, cutting a deep gash in between her 4th and 5th toes. As I recall, this happened in the evening. LaRue decided to try to handle this herself without going to an emergency room.  LaRue and Marge tried the best they could to administer First Aid and bandage up her foot. The thing that impressed me the most was how calm, cool, and collected she was. She had sustained an ugly and painful wound that freaked me out just looking at i, and must have throbbed each time her heart beat. If such an injury had happened to me, I probably would have been howling in pain. LaRue attempted, without much success as I recall, to get some rest that night, with only aspirin or Tylenol for pain relief. When the pain did not subside substantially by morning, she finally opted to go to an urgent care facility to check whether her little toe might be broken. As I recall, no broken bones were found, but she received several stitches to close up the deep gash in between her toes.

So, I remember my Aunt LaRue as a kind, considerate woman with both a high pain threshold and an impressive amount of self control and determination to try to be self-sufficient.