My Mom

My mom passed away on July 18, 2011. I miss her so much. She was a great mother to me and my siblings. I am the second youngest of seven children. When I was 18 months old, my parents discovered my right hip was dislocated. I had it taken care of at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. I had to wear a cast, and she had to carry me around for four months. That must have been hard for her. I grew up on a farm in a small town called Oxford, Idaho. We had several cows, raised chickens, pigs, rabbits, had several cats and dogs as pets. I am thankful that she was a hard worker on our farm and in the jobs she had. She worked at the livestock auction in Preston, Idaho for several years. She also worked at DelMonte in Franklin, Idaho for several years where they canned beans and cabbage. She taught me the value of hard work. She worked hard on our farm canning things like corn, peaches, pears and applesauce. We had many fruit trees in our yard: apples, pears, plums, and cherry. She made plum jelly, raspberry, and strawberry jam. Her and my dad bought the raspberries and strawberries. She worked hard helping my dad milk the cows. She always kept a great garden. My parents planted potatoes, corn, beans, peas, and tomatoes. I enjoyed picking peas and podding them, also helping to shuck the corn. I helped my parents plant potatoes too. She worked hard doing the laundry using a ringer washer and hanging the clothes up to dry. In the winter she hung as many clothes as she could in our house. I enjoyed helping do the laundry. She gave us hot water bottles to warm our feet. When we had a sore throat, she gave us an alcohol rag to wear around our necks. She made jello water when we had an upset stomach. My parents always took turns keeping the fire going in the winter in our wood burning stove.

My mom had a great smile. She was a friend to many people, thus, she taught me the importance of loving others. One of her callings was a visiting teacher supervisor. She got to call the ladies to see if they got theirs done. Visiting teaching is something we do in our church. We have ladies that we are assigned to visit or contact each month. She got a permanent in her hair often, and it looked so nice. She taught me the importance of family. She taught me how to pray, and she taught me the importance of attending church. I attended several family reunions with my parents and siblings, and I have continued to do that in my married life. When we attended the reunions, she always made macaroni salad with tunafish, lettuce, and radishes. She also always bought chicken, and pork and beans and took those things to the reunions. I think because my mom taught my siblings and I the value of hard work she also taught me to never give up on the things I try to do. I am currently working on crocheting an afghan for a step-granddaughter that I have been working on for more than 1 ½ years. I have started it over numerous times, but I am confident I will complete it soon. She sent a birthday card to each of her 13 grandchildren every year on their birthday. Thus, she taught us to appreciate the little things in life. This is so important. I think my mom loved life, and she taught me to love and appreciate life even when things don’t go the way that I want them to. We often listened to music on 8 track tapes and records. I learned the importance of music.

My mom’s mom made a lot of homemade bread for the 14 children she had. My mom always had an afterschool snack for us when we came home from school. My mom also often made She mixed peanut butter and honey which tasted great on homemade bread. She often made pumpkin, sugar, raisin, and peanut butter cookies. She made homemade doughnuts, cinnamon rolls and cheerio squares. She tried hard to make delicious meals for us. She worked hard doing the laundry using a ringer washer and hanging the clothes up to dry. In the winter she hung as many clothes as she could in our house. I enjoyed helping do the laundry. She gave us hot water bottles to warm our feet. When we had a sore throat, she gave us an alcohol rag to wear around our necks. She made jello water when we had an upset stomach. My parents always took turns keeping the fire going in the winter in our wood burning stove. Her and my dad made holidays fun. On Thanksgiving every year, she did a wonderful job making Parker House rolls and several pies. We always had cranberry sauce, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and several pies: pumpkin, lemon, cherry, apple, and raisinEvery year for Christmas we would go to Grand Central in Logan, Utah. and buy a gift for the person we drew. We would spend $5.00 to $10.00 on a gift. We also shopped at Kings and Sprouse Reitz in Preston, Idaho. We always had a nice tree. They bought nice gifts for us. We had fun seeing the decorations of people’s houses near where we lived. For Easter we had fun finding baskets that were hid in our house. We had fun going trick or treating on Halloween. On July 4th we had fun with sparklers. We also enjoyed seeing the parade and fireworks in Lewiston, Utah. On Pioneer Day (July 24), Clifton, Idaho always had a fun celebration with skits, fireworks, and games. My parents bought several board games for us to play like Sorry, Parchesi, Aggravation, Scrabble. She supported us on the activities we did in school. I played basketball in high school. She wrote letters faithfully to me when I attended Ricks College. Most of us went on an LDS mission. She wrote two letters a week to us without fail. What dedication!

In the last few years of her life, she had a bad hip, but I don’t think she complained much. She had to use a cane to walk. I know that her hip hurt her a lot. I am so grateful for the kind of person my mom was and is. I love her so much. I know she is proud of me and my siblings. She helped me to be the person I am, and I am very grateful to her for this.