Dying Alone

Rebecca Woolington: The obituary ran six days after the death of Madaline Christine Pitkin. It recalled the sunny early October evening she was born. It told stories from her childhood, the time she wanted to jump rope like the older girls, the way she loved all animals except spiders.

It said she spent her time taking black-and-white photographs. It described her as spunky, candid, independent.

It didn't say how or where she died — only that she "passed away unexpectedly."

Her parents didn't know much more then.

On the afternoon of April 24, 2014, a chaplain and deputy had come to the door of the family's tan-and-brick bungalow in North Portland's Overlook neighborhood. Mary Pitkin was alone,…