MEANDERING REMININCES

MY MOTHER

"When thou art feeble, old and gray,
My healthy arm shall be thy stay,
And I will soothe thy pains away,"
.......................My mother
by Jane Taylor


I have covered the main interests of my parents: golf and fishing for my father and golf, bridge, knitting, sewing and bowling for my mother. However, she did more than that. She was my Girl Scout Leader, a costume maker for the local Children's Theater, a member of the AAUW drama group (they READ plays) and a member of Alpha Xi Delta Alumni Sorority. She was a college graduate. In fact my parents met at college and were married on campus in the chapel. Both John and I met at the same university. My father acted and sang in local theater productions, was active in the Lutheran church, a Luther League advisor and for my senior prom, got up at 4 in the morning to deliver the breakfast to the park for the after prom. He was orphaned by the age of 4 and raised by his grandparents. His grandfather fought for the Union in the Civil War. I never knew my paternal grandparents (obviously) and my paternal great-grandfather died at the age of 94 six years before I was born. When my father was 17 he was accidentally shot by his cousin. He drove himself to the hospital and he lost his spleen. When he was diagnosed with lung cancer, the hospital staff was astonished that he still had shotgun pellets in his lungs! My great-grandmother died when I was 14 at the age of 98 so I never really knew her. My maternal grandparents moved to a farm in central Ohio and did not have running water. Since we had to use an outhouse and haul water into the house for washing dishes and bathing, my mother rarely visited - maybe once a year and almost never in the winter. They seldom came to see us since that meant leaving the livestock. As a young child, my father believed that Sundays were to be quiet and while I could play outside I could not engage in sports. That did change later but I think that some of that was because my parents did party on Saturday nights and took naps on Sundays and did not want me running amok in the neighborhood. Before golf became his Saturday passion, he and I would watch westerns on TV. I had the typical 1950's childhood and for that I am grateful.