CHICAGO – No words, no major reactions. Just little signs. That’s all Doc Rivers thought he had left.
Diabetes had ravaged Bettye Rivers’ body; dementia had taken her mind. Things had gotten so bad, she didn’t recognize her children.
“Once she stopped remembering his name, it really started to hurt,” said Austin Rivers, Bettye’s grandson.
But the family kept pushing, trying to break through to the Bettye they loved for so many years.
This defined Doc’s summer. Same for his brother, Grady Jr.
Doc was always sure to talk when he entered the room in her home in Maywood, Ill.