Tonight I was looking at the Google Analytics data for my blog (you know, the numbers of visitors, search words to find my blog, referring sites, etc.) and was surprised that I got a hundred or so visitors for the search string “ray t mcgee.” Ray is Riley’s grandfather who lived in Oklahoma until he died in February of this year. So out of curiosity I Googled “ray t mcgee” to see the other results. To my surprise the first result was for “RUBY MCGEE >>Obituaries >> AdaEveningNews.com.” I clicked the link and learned the following:

ADA — Graveside services for Ruby Lee McGee, 89, Ada, are 12 noon Saturday,  Nov. 13, 2010, at Memorial Park Cemetery, the Rev. Earl Hood officiating.
Mrs. McGee died Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010, at Ada. She was born April 20, 1921, at Selby, S.D., to LeRoy and Della Chamberlain Easterling.
She attended school at Jennings and was a homemaker.

She married Ray T. McGee II on May 2, 1941. He preceded her in death.

Survivors include a daughter, Nancy Jarman and her husband Lonnie, Oklahoma City; a son, Frank Nichols and his wife Leota, Ada; three granddaughters, Danita Nichols and Gavin, Frisco, Texas, Robin and Andy Hallford, Arlington, Texas, and Leslee and Gary Sanner, Moore; three great-granddaughters; and five great-grandsons.

She was preceded in death by her husband, a son, Ray T. McGee III; a sister, Marie Shellenberger; a brother, Joe Sloss; and a granddaughter, Kimlee [Kemley] Wilson.

Criswell Funeral Home, Ada

Ruby Lee McGee is the mother of Ray T. McGee, who is the father of Kemley McGee Wilson, who is the mother of Riley Wilson, my daughter. Yes, Riley’s great-grandmother died two weeks ago and was buried soon after in Ada, Oklahoma. Ray and Kemley loved her very much. I’ve been to her home in Ada many times over a 10-year period and had learned to love her as a grandmother. Riley knew her from infancy through 4-years of age.

It would have been nice to go to her funeral. It would have been nice to be invited. It would have been nice to be told she had died. It would have been nice….to be thought of.

Sadly, this is just another example of a family that has been divided by death, distance, and so many other instances of peculiar behavior that it’s not surprising. But, it is disappointing.

We now have absolutely no contact from the McGee family, Riley’s family. No calls on holidays. No birthday gifts/calls/cards. No calls to Riley to just see how she is. No contact.

Maybe one of them will stumble across this post when they Google “ray t mcgee,” and just maybe they’ll remember that there is another “McGee,” one who doesn’t live in Oklahoma, one that might still like to feel that she is part of the family.