My
mom is one of the most loving, unselfish, patient, and generous people that I
know. She and Dad were married 4 months
shy of celebrating their 50th anniversary when he passed away. They were the parents of 5 children and
grandparents to 10 grandchildren. And
May 26th, Mom will add her third great-grandchild to the family.
Family
is a priority for Mom. She has a smile
and a ready hug every time you see her. With
Mom, the more family gets together, the better it is. Growing up, I can remember a few times when
Dad had to be in town for business that she drove 560 miles, one way, to
Lubbock with 5 kids so we could spend time with our grandparents and
cousins. We would visit Dad’s side of
the family in Texas City several Saturdays or Sunday afternoons each month. Mom and Dad were at sports events, school or
church programs, concerts, and anything else we were involved in. When the grandkids came along, they continued
the tradition by supporting and attending their activities. Holidays were always big times of family
gatherings, decorations and celebrations.
To this day, we still celebrate family traditions and enjoy spending
time together, whether it’s a holiday or not.
Each
summer, we spent one weekend in June at the Hackney Family Reunion. The reunion was begun by my maternal
grandfather’s parents for their 7 children and their families. We treasured those times with lots of relatives
and still do to this day. As the five of
us kids began to marry, we also began the tradition of renting a beach house
for a week and all spending the week together.
Mom had “Required Fun” activities for the kids to make each year. She even made each of the grandchildren their
own flag to have at the beach one summer.
Those continue to be highlights for all of us. We learned early on the value of family.
Mom is gifted with creativity and the ability to
sew. With four girls, that was
definitely a blessing. We had new
dresses to wear for each day of the first week of school, for Christmas,
Easter, flower girl dresses, GA coronations, piano recitals, homecomings, proms,
and bridesmaid dresses. She even
branched out and made jams for my brother and made lots of costumes. When the grandkids came along, she took
sewing to a whole new level. She was
also very creative when it came time for school projects. We quickly allowed this to carry over to the
next generation. Whenever a grandchild
had a project, we knew Mom would have the supplies, know where they were, and
could help with the process. If she
didn’t have a pattern, she would make one up.
Mom made things for the grandkids from baby blankets, matching jams, to
amazing “Graduation Picture Quilts.” Mom
would also design the family Christmas card each year as well as make an
ornament for each member of the family for the family tree. One of the grandkids once said, “What’s the big deal about Martha Stewart? Grandmother can do all that.” So very true!
Even now, Mom is constantly making scrubbies or sewing yo-yos and
keeping busy.
Sometimes
this creativity caused unexpected results.
Whenever any of the Pasadena grandkids were sick at school, Mom was on
the call list to pick them up. My
sisters and brother finally had to tell her that the sick child had to just
stay on the couch because Mom let them make designs on t-shirts, paint pictures,
make shrinky-dinks or other crafts and play games. It was an added bonus if two “cousins” were
sick on the same day. There definitely was
not much of a motivation for the sick child to recover quickly. Two “cousins” confessed, this past year, that
they would decide at church on Sunday nights if they were going to be sick that
week and on which day so they could go be at Grandmother’s house at the same
time.
Church
involvement and a relationship with Jesus are important to Mom. We were active members of the church (in more
ways than one). Mom and Dad made sure we
were there for Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night activities. We were in choir, GA’s, RA’s, Vacation Bible
School, and went on mission and choir trips.
Mom taught 2nd graders in Sunday School for over 50
years. For many years, she made each
child a bag, with their name on it, to hold their Bible and Sunday School book.
Mom
truly expressed her Christian faith in love and actions. She was constantly writing a card to someone,
baking a cake, helping with a wedding shower and was a great example of doing
things for others without expecting anything in return. For years, she would go out early and place
the newspaper on the neighbors’ front porches since some of them were “older”
now. She was also involved in the PTA
and other school activities because education was so important.
In
these later years, Mom modeled for us what it means to love your spouse “In
sickness and in health.” From our early
years, she taught us to treat Dad with love and respect and we saw her live
that out in his final days.
I
am so incredibly grateful for God’s blessing of a godly mother. I am proud to be her daughter.
Children’s
children are a crown to the aged,
and
parents are the pride of their children.
Proverbs 17:6
“A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days
of her life.”
“Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he
praises her: ‘Many women do noble
things, but you surpass them all.’ Charm
is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be
praised.”
Proverbs 31:10-12, 28-30
