Helen of Genoa [Dumb Box 12]

In 1950 our family thought of my aunt Helen as the most beautiful woman in Genoa, Nebraska.  She was 29 years old, had two infants, was pregnant, and she was dying of leukemia.  I was 7 at the time and remember well visiting her in the one room that made up the town hospital, a single room above a pharmacy, where a doctor would visit at least once a week.  On the street below, farmers parked diagonally in front of the raised wooden sidewalks, took seats on the hoods of their trucks and smoked, while staring up at her window, respectful and silent.