EULOGY FOR MOM 8/10/2013 When I think back over my mother’s life, I’m amazed at her accomplishments as I consider the obstacles she had to overcome. She was born into poverty. Her mother made her dresses from flour sacks. She went without shoes in the summer and carried water from a spring as a child when she and her family lived in a house with no electricity and no floor. She chopped and picked cotton through long hot days, shelled a barrel full of peanuts with her father and did many other laborsome jobs before she ever became a teenager. In actuality her family worked as share-croppers for a time. But when Mom would tell me about her childhood, she didn’t dwell on the difficulties, she would talk about the fun times she had with her brothers and sisters and mother. It was obvious that she had a lot of happiness in her childhood. I think it was because she and her family knew how to value what was important in life, … each other. She grew up on an isolated mountain in the Ozarks of Arkansas. Her mother was part Cherokee and it’s very possible that their ancestors came to be there because they escaped off of the trail of tears. Just like many I’ve seen in third world countries today, material possessions were scarce. Her childhood was in a time when they didn’t own a television, a telephone, or any electronic games or any electronics of any kind, but she was resourceful and seldom bored. She and her sister Polly would make homemade paper dolls and play for hours. Mom was very artistic. The brothers would take Mom and the others and bounce them on a sapling tree until they were slung off. She loved to read books that came from the travelling book mobile and she would read avidly, but what amazes me is that even though they moved from that mountain and then moved from place to place and school to school almost unceasingly, Mom managed to graduate from High School. In that time, the majority did not graduate. It was the wealthy class or the college bound who managed to persevere and earn their diplomas. High School degrees weren’t for those who had work to be done to put food on the table, but she stuck to it and became the one in her family who would obtain a High School diploma. I know she made her parents proud. She married after high school and though she had a difficult marriage, she stuck it out much longer than most people would have. Part of her reasoning was to give me a stable home. I believe Mom gave up a lot to make sure I had what I needed. I remember when I came home from school one day and asked if I could go with my class to Washington D.C. I really thought the answer would be no. Our situation was very humble since Dad was disabled, but she pulled out $600 from her savings and sent me. That was precious money to her that she had worked hard for. You see Mom was also a very good money manager. She was wise. She always had a savings. And this was not easy considering my father was on disability and she was cleaning houses for a living, but she always had a little extra to help someone in need. I’ve seen her help friends with a meal, with some cash when they were destitute, with a visit, with a letter or card, with a kind word on the phone or with companionship over a yahtzee game. My mother accomplished a lot in me as well. Her words, actions and example, in large part, have been what have steered my life and given me wisdom and heart. God gave me a wonderful mother who couldn’t give me fine things, but what she did give me is more precious than gold. My Mom was a believer in God and gave her life to her Savior years ago. She prayed every night for us and all those who were dear to her. I’d like to end with one of the precious experiences she had with God from when she was a child. She has told me the story dozens of times and I think it was the favorite experience of her childhood. She said that she and Polly had been trying to sleep, and it was difficult to sleep because it was a hot night in Arkansas and of course there was no fan and no air conditioner. She said her hair was wet from sweat, but finally she did fall asleep. In the night she said she suddenly found herself wide awake holding Polly’s hand and someone else had her other hand, but she didn’t see who it was. She said the three of them were flying above the trees and the air was rushing over them cooling them and refreshing them. It was so exhilarating. She said she knew it wasn’t a dream because she saw the tops of the trees and her own house in detail from the sky which were things she had never seen. It was an experience that she remembered and recounted to the end. Perhaps now the Lord is allowing her to fly again with Polly in heaven and maybe it’s with that sneaky angel who took them on that special night flight. One thing is for sure, she’s enjoying herself immensely and those of us who were privileged to really know her have been blessed because of her life and friendship. She will be greatly missed.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 01:44:12 +0000
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