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Listen to your heart
It can happen to anyone anywhere at anytime.
Everyone is vulnerable: the young, the old, the weak, and the strong.
It can strike during the day or at night.
Or in Ronna (Edwards) Newman’s case, while running track.
“I was fourteen in 1999, and it was the first day of eighth grade track practice,” Ronna said. “I don’t remember that day at all, but from what they told me, I didn’t feel good. We were supposed to run three laps, and the beginning of the third lap I collapsed and went into cardiac arrest.”
February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women and 90 percent of women have one or more risk factors for developing the disease.
In fact, if not for fast reactions from two coaches, Ronna probably would not be here today.
“The coaches performed CPR until the ambulance got there,” Ronna said. “They had to use the external defibrillator two times, and the third time they finally got a heartbeat. They took me to Claude and then airlifted me to Amarillo where I was in the hospital for a couple of weeks.”
Ronna was diagnosed with a rare heart condition, called Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia, which is known to be among the top causes of sudden cardiac death among young athletes.
“My heart rate would get over 200 beats a minute,” Ronna said. “I didn’t know it though because I was born that way, and it was just normal for me. There had been no other heart problems in my family, just high blood pressure.”
Ronna left the hospital with an internal defibrillator and an altered lifestyle.
“I can’t do anything that will get my heart rate up, so of course I couldn’t run anymore,” Ronna said. “That’s when I started playing golf. I haven’t had any problems with my heart since then.”
Ronna is not the only woman in Clarendon who has experienced a heart attack. For Melinda McAnear, president of the Donley County Hospital District, she was watering her flowers when it happened.
“I was 56 on June 23, 2006, and I had a pain in my chest,” Melinda said. “It was nothing real bad, so I blew it off for a little bit. In ten minutes it had not gone away, but it had not gotten worse. It was like nothing I had ever experienced.”
After calling her husband, Ronnie, Melinda decided to call the ambulance. She now regards this as one of the best decisions she ever made.
“The EMTs told me that I was having a heart attack, and I didn’t believe them at first,” Melinda said. “I always thought that having a heart attack would be excruciating pain, but it wasn’t. I had none of the classic symptoms of a heart attack, like radiating pain in my left arm or shortness of breath. It was just ‘uncomfortableness’ in my chest.”
Melinda remained conscious throughout the ambulance ride to BSA , where she was diagnosed with Coronary Artery Disease. She received a heart stint.
“I had never had heart problems before that, but there are cases of heart disease on both sides of my family,” she said. “Fortunately there was no heart or muscle damage. I had 90 percent blockage; and if I would’ve waited any longer, I probably would have died from a massive heart attack.”
From her heart attack, Melinda said she learned a valuable lesson.
“When you have a gut feeling that something is wrong, you need to listen to your body because it’s trying to tell you something,” Melinda said. “I listened and paid attention, and I’m sure glad I did.”
In recognition of Heart Month, Melinda wears a red dress pin, which is the symbol for women fighting heart disease.
“My cardiologist gave it to me the year after my heart attack, and I’ve worn it ever since in February,” Melinda said.
Ronna and Melinda stress the importance of heart check-ups, because neither one ever expected to have a heart attack.
“It’s a good thing to get checked up, because it can happen to anyone,” Ronna said. “You never know when it may happen.”
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Ruth Maurine Lindley
Ruth Maurine Lindley, 94, died Thursday, February 10, 2011, in Amarillo.
Services were held Sunday, February 13, 2011, in the Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon with Rev. Larry Capranica, Pastor, and Chuck Robertson officiating. Interment was held at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon. Services were under the arrangement of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Mrs. Lindley was born May 30, 1916, in Hall County, Texas to Gordy Dalton and Nina Willa Dale Cross. She had been a lifetime resident of Donley and Hall Counties. She married Dennis Ray Lindley on October 13, 1935, in Hollis, Oklahoma. She thoroughly enjoyed sewing, crocheting, quilting, and cooking. She was a member of the Chamberlain, Hudgins, and Golden Needles Quilting Clubs. She also had taught Sunday school at the First Baptist Church in Clarendon prior to being a Charter Member of the Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Dennis Ray in 1986; a son in law, Marion Bollinger; a sister, Phyllis Richey; and a grandson, Dennis Bollinger.
Survivors include two sons, Harold Lindley and wife Wilma of Clarendon and Tommy Lindley and wife Cynthia of Claude; a daughter, Roberta Bollinger of Clarendon; four grandchildren; twelve great-grandchildren; and two great great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorials be to Odyssey Hospice.
Virginia “Nell” McClish
Virginia “Nell” McClish, 74, of Chandler, Arizona, formerly of Amarillo and Pampa, died Tuesday, February 8, 2011.
Services were held Saturday, February 12, at the Boxwell Brothers Ivy Chapel. Burial was held at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Pampa, Texas. Arrangements were by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors.
She was born Virginia Waynell Weaver to Horace and Thelma Weaver on July 3, 1936, at Gilliland, Texas. She grew up on the High Plains of Texas in several small picturesque towns always with her parents, her sister, Louise and lots of friends and cousins. They provided her with a happy childhood and a strong faith with which she lived throughout her life. She married Oran Carter in 1953, and their loving and memory-filled twenty-one-year marriage produced five children. Oran preceded her in death in 1975 in Pampa.
She met Maurice McClish at the First Christian Church in Amarillo, and they married in 1984. Maurice and Nell were blessed in combining their faith, their families, and friends. They shared their love of life and love of adventure- he taught her how to water ski and go bird hunting, and she taught him her love of planting and growing flowers, and love of nature.
They celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary in July of 2010.
Nell is survived by her husband, Maurice McClish of Lake Greenbelt; her sister, Louise Halcom of Amarillo; her five children, Laquita Gruver and husband Kurt of Belton, Texas, Marita Ross and husband Brad of Chandler, AZ, Gay Nell Acord of Pecos, NM , Ora Switzer and husband Bryan of Dallas and John Carter-White also of Dallas; her step-children, Kevin McClish of Amarillo and Cheri, Beverly and Buffy; her ten grandchildren, Mandy Nation, Christy Templeton, Lara and Sara Ross, Art and Oran Acord, Ryan, Hannah and Holly Switzer and Marci McClish; her three great grandchildren, Hailey and Julie Templeton and Brighlee Reynoso.
Olivas Juan Jose Olivas
Olivas Juan Jose Olivas, 43, died Saturday, February 12, 2011, in Clarendon.
Rosary was said Tuesday, February 15, in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Clarendon. Mass was celebrated Wednesday, February 16, in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Clarendon with Father Raj Samala and Deacon Pedro Juarez as the celebrants. Interment was held at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Clarendon.
Services were under the arrangements of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon. Juan was born May 30, 1967, in Cuauhtemoc Chihuahua, Mexico to Arnoldo Gonzalez and Guadalupe Olivas. He married Stella Jaramillo on November 21, 1996, in Clarendon. He attended Karate School.
He was a good father, wonderful husband and son in law. He was a member of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Clarendon. Survivors include his wife, Stella Olivas of Howardwick; his mother, Lupe Olivas of Mexico; two daughters, Rhonda Olivas and Rosa Olivas of Howardwick; a son, Juan Angel Olivas of Howardwick; two brothers, Martin Gonzalez and Arnoldo Gonzalez; two sisters, Nana Gonzalez and Olivia Gonzalez; and a favorite niece, Robin Jaramillo.
The family suggests memorials to St. Mary’s Catholic Church or St. Mary’s Cemetery Fund.
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