Loving… Kind… Funny…
Here in an old black and white photo from about 1951, my mom Verna (holding me) and my dad Will (holding my sister Patti), posed for a shapshot that eventually made its way into my box of old family photos.
My wonderful and a bit eccentric mom would have been 100 years old today! She was born in what was then a small mining community in the mountains of Utah. Her father, an Italian immigrant miner, moved his wife and two small children (many more came through the years) in 1912 to a homestead on section of land in the Madison Valley of Montana, where the winters were brutal in a two room cabin and life was harsh. Recalling one winter, she told me it was so cold the chickens’ feet froze and fell off, and another when the stock in their small barn froze to death. The animals on the perimeter along the walls froze and only those in the center survived. The winter when she was about thirteen, her father abandoned the family. Several of the younger children where sent to live with neighbors to help the family survive. Before the winter weather snowed them in, Mom was sent into town by horseback, to purchase a can of kerosene and sacks of meal. On the way home, somehow some of the kerosene splashed onto one of the sacks of meal. Before that winter passed, the only thing they had left to eat was the kerosene soaked meal. And they did eat it, each child received a large spoonful daily. Out of necessity, she moved away from home at the age of fifteen to Butte where she got a job.
She met, then married her first husband at the tender age of seventeen, my older sister Nihla was born a year later. During the great depression they moved all around the western states following jobs that came and went for her and her husband. They divorced in the early 1940s and she by then had moved to western Washington, and worked in the shipyards during WWII. She loved to dance and did so often during the war years.
Shortly after WWII, she met my dad at a dance and they were married in 1946, my next older sister, Patti, came along in 1948 and me in 1950. Having only had the opportunity to attend school through the sixth grade, she attended night school and received her high school diploma in 1962, of which she was very proud. She and my dad divorced in the late 1960s and she worked for a furniture manufacturer in the Kent Valley until retirement. Always frugal, she scrimped, saved and did without, she swore she would never go hungry another day in her life, so she made sure something was always put by. Quite artistic, she was a self-taught artist, working in the medium of oils, and she was a master seamstress.
She was diagnosed with mesothelioma, having been caused by years of smoking and asbestos exposure in the shipyard during the war. My sisters and I cared for her as she battled the cancer bravely, but sadly, she passed away in the early spring of 1987, just three weeks after my son Jake was born. Cancer is not a kind disease, she lost her ability to speak near the end, but the last time I saw her she looked me in the eyes and called my name twice… and I knew we were ‘speaking’ our last goodbyes. I miss her terribly even after all these years, what I wouldn’t give for one more hug and kiss on the cheek. Happy 100th Birthday, Mom!
she sounds like a very strong and determined woman. :)
Yes, she was…
A very special day. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, a special day indeed… I miss her SO much!
Quite a story of a tough sounding life. Glad to see you have the photo. My own mother died at 100 years, 8 months and 2 days in 2009. Living in Australia, she got her message from the queen.
How sweet..! Centenarians receive a letter from our President as well…
You put so much into a few paragraphs here. I love stories like these and am in awe of how things were and how strong people are. I think it is wonderful that she love to dance : ) What a nice tribute to her. She was an attractive woman. Do you dance?
Thank you, Michaele… I really wanted to honor her on what would have been her 100th birthday. I used to dance, haven’t in a long time…
awwww. I love stories like this! Thanks for posting ! I love the photo!
Thank you!
Such a great post. Photo AND Words…….. priceless
Thank you so much…
That is one amazing photo and your mom is lovely.
Thanks, Randy… yes she was!
Thanks for your story today. I enjoyed the look back.
Thanks, Birdman… sometimes its good to remember that while we live in some hard times, each generation has had them too.
i love old photos, this one is special. My mom died in 1990 at age 63, way to young to leave us. I think we will miss our moms until the day we die.
I agree with you… time diminishes the frequency of grief but not the depth…
Your mom looks like Katherine Hepburn, beautiful lady!
Thank you… I never thought of that!
Makes me want to cherish my mom all the more. She’s still alive. Your mom sounds like an awesome woman who suffered a lot.
Yes… do cherish her, every moment and every hug.