in their stockings.

Anna, the youngest, was wearing a pair of blue beads that had been given to her by a neighbour, Margaret McCloskey (later known as Sr. Margaret). That evening, she had broken the string that was holding the beads together. She placed one of the beads in her mouth, and as she skipped around the room, she accidentally swallowed it. She mentioned it to her mother, who thought that she would pass it in a day or so, and she was not concerned. Anna continued to play and romp about; so her mother thought that she would be all right. Some time later, Anna’s color changed and she started gasping for breath. Veronica and John tried in vain to save her. Before they realized what was happening, the child was dead in her mother’s arms. They later discovered that there was a hole in the center of the bead. As she danced around, the bead turned, blocking the passage of air.

That changed the Christmas spirit in Bear River in the year 1921. Instead of decorating a Christmas tree, the neighbours built a casket which the ladies lined with white satin for a little angel who went to her eternal reward after a short life—span of only five years.