A Tribute to Mother

She was born on Christmas day in 1928. Eighty years later, Mom died on March 25, 2009 after a long fight with Multiple Myeloma. She never gave up. I thought I would share and celebrate the life of a truly beautiful woman. She was not only beautuful on the outside, but on the inside as well.

Her devotion to her Faith and family were the key traits to her success. That's why I never gave up the good fight myself! So as I share this pictorial history of Mom, think about your mother and remember the good things about her. After all, everyone has/had a mother!

I assume this was taken while she was

still in high school.

Doesn't she reflect

the times?

Mom was quite a looker.

She retained her good looks until

the last two years she was on

this earth.  She stayed in

contact with her school friends

until the end.

The Quanah Girls

remember!!!!!!

Mom remembered when

Pearl Harbor was bombed.

She talked about it from

time to time. She also remembers

the Depression Era of the 1930s.

After all, she was a child then,

growing up in a dusty little town

in West Texas.

She told me about a little boy who

showed up at their home with a cut

foot.  They doctored and fed him,

then he went on his way, never to

be seen again.

Mom said she had a class with Dad

while they were in college at

Texas Tech in Lubbock. She said

she finished a test and walked into the

hallway. She turned to him and said,

"That sure was a hard test!!" And that's

how they met. They dated for two years

before they got married. She said Dad was

quite a charmer back then. He loved to

party, but Mom was more reserved and

never drank a drop of alcohol.

They waited until

after graduation to marry.

After the wedding,

Mom said they stopped

at a diner called the

'Rabbit Ear Cafe'.

Don't know where it

was, but it was somewhere

in West Texas. Don't they make

a handsome couple?

They had good looking

kids, too!! Ha-ha!

Here she is with her first-born,

my older sister. She

was born in 1954. Looks like she's

headed to a pot-luck dinner.

I was conceived around this time.

Look at the suit she's wearing.

Baby Boomers, remember those?

Dad was an architect.

Mom taught school until my sister

was born. Then she stayed home

to raise us. I was born in 1958, my

brother in 1961. We were all

Boomers, raised middle class

in a traditional American

neighborhood. We played

outside and Mom called us in

for lunch and supper, just

like calling in the cows!!!

Here we are assembled at

 my grandmothers on

Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

We rarely did things as

a complete family, but I

thought it was normal. 

Talk about Bahama Mama!!

She looks like a

peppermint in this dress.

But she was absolutely

stunning!

 I remember it well!

When they went on this trip,

I missed my Mommy so bad!

She brought me some cool

souvenirs. I looked forward

to that!

Mom went back to work

teaching in 1969. 

It was a difficult time for

us to adjust to a working

Mom.  She taught third grade

for many years before she

retired.  All her students

remember her as the nicest teacher

they ever had.

Mom was always supportive.

Almost always. She never

hesitated to correct me in

some way. Maybe that's why

I looked for her approval so

much!  But it was all good.

Wish I would have listened

to everything!

Mom always said,

"She was the pretty one,

I was the funny one".

Yeah, Mom was

the funny one, for sure.

I think they're both

pretty.

I'm not going to talk about the illness.

Mom died from Multilple Myeloma,

bone marrow cancer. She survived

nearly 5 years. This is one of

her best pictures before she got

sick. Still looking good!!  She continued

teaching a Sunday School class until

she was too sick to continue.  Thank

God for adversity!

A list of sayings Mom left as part of her legacy.

"Let's talk about roses.. "You don't need that!" "Tomorrow will be better".

"Oh, poo-doodle!" "We're off like a herd of turtles and a bucket of buttermilk!"

Think about your mother today. No, it's not Mother's Day. It doesn't have to be. Think of it as every day being Mom's day!