Mom will remain as inspiration

Mom's Sunday dinners were just the best. She put the turkey, ham, lamb or beef roast in the oven just before she and Dad headed off to church. When we all sat down for her country cuisine, it was like a holiday all over again. The aroma of home cooking filled the entire house.

She was such a great cook indeed, but more than that, she was the mom a son or daughter would hope for. My friends envied me when they stopped by my house on the way to the school bus stop, smelling the breakfast aroma still lingering in the house from the eggs and bacon breakfast I had already downed. They usually had cereal. Years later, a girlfriend told me she could still smell that wonderful aroma from our kitchen.

Mom will forever remain an inspiration to all of us who could never hold a candle to her.

She cared for her children, grand children and great grandchildren as if they were the gems of the earth - and they were.

Mom was kind, understanding and loyal when it came to her family, but we all knew better than to push her German-Scottish-British buttons.

If we did, there was a disciplinarian to reckon with. And I can vouch to that peach stick stinging the back of my 8-year-old legs as I ran ahead of her all the way home failing to have obeyed her words to stay in the yard and then not responding to her beckoning call to dinner.

A skilled beautician who never really had time to launch a career, she attended to my two sisters' and my hair as well as my dad's saving the family added expenses during some tough economic times.

Mom could fix anything that pertained to her family needs. She was nurse, seamstress, counselor, and gardener to the flowers that always flourished.

Then, of course she was a gourmet chef as far as her family was concerned. As a grandmother, she was the daycare of all daycares. No grandchild should be with a "Nannie" like my Mom. Her motherly nurturing skills were superior, bar none.

When it came to outings like camp trips to Medicine Lake, the California Coast or out of state vacations, Mom prepared those gourmet meals on the road as good if not better than the ones back in her own kitchen.

Remembering Mom is remembering her fabulous sense of humor. She had a humorous anecdote for whatever the moment encouraged. We considered her wise colloquial gems to be words of wisdom.

Mom was petite. For years she wore those "sample shoes" that came from local stores, Burton's, Sim Nathan's and Dicker's shoe departments in old downtown Redding. Guess what? She saved a fortune by having those tiny feet. The rest of usually shopped the clearance racks hoping to compete, but Mom, hands down, had the advantage.

And, she could save enough from the shopping money my father allocated her every other week and buy herself a new pair of shoes now and then. She knew how to grocery shop. In the old days it was Purity on Pine Street, Wentz's and Miller's on the west side that filled the grocery shopping needs.

Wouldn't it be grand if our society had more Moms like mine? I mean the kind of mom that was always there when you arrived home from school. Mine was the kind of mom that prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner at home.

Dining out for her was a really big treat. She gave a lot and asked for little. My mom was the kind of mom that contributed to society by rearing her children in honesty, integrity, guiding them to be responsible citizens.

Society today could learn a bit of wisdom from a grand example.

I had a great visit with her about a week and a half ago. She was tired, weary after living 93 years on this earth. Two days later a stroke left her almost lifeless and in the few hours that followed, she slipped away to be with my dad and their Lord in Heaven.

We will all miss her, but she has the reward now. Good night, Mom. We'll see you in the morning.