On this day in 1933
Lilian Harvey Lewis
was born, not early, 
but tiny. 

Doctor’s advice: have 
her baptized right
away. She won’t live
out the week.

She outlived that
prediction by 78 years.
Left her childhood
in Scranton, became

a nurse, married 
a Midwestern doctor,
raised six children 
in upstate New York. 

She was always fragile.
She was always strong.
Rheumatic fever, arthritis,
heart disease slowed 

but did not stop her
from laughing, from
becoming a late in life
political activist.

And when her heart
finally did wear out, she 
quietly let go, surrounded 
by all the people she loved.