My mom was born in 1922 but for years she thought it was 1921. She was the 6th of 11 children. In 1938 she married her first husband John who had lost his leg at a young age in a rail yard accident. They had 3 children. My mom helped John with the his businesses. He was a mechanic and owned a garage and she did the book work. They has a coal delivery business and a bus shuttle business to a mine twenty miles away. My mom drove the bus for all three shifts and also drove the dump truck. John died in 1955 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 38.
My mom was left with three children ages 10 to 14 and many debts. People didn't pay the $5000 owed to her. Giving credit I learned is not a good business practice.
Mom met my father Brent in 1956. I was born in 1957. In 1963 due to financial problems mom began working for Rockwell making water meters. She worked there for 22 years. My dad could only find sporadic work until 1968. After retiring she took care of my grandmother who became bed fast at the age of 93 and passed away 6 months later. She also took care of my father who was disabled in the mine. My father passed away in 1990 at the age of 64 from stomach cancer.
Mom then lived on her own for 14 years. Three years ago I had to place her in a personal care home due to dementia. She is doing very well. An old friend once told me that you can lose your father but when you lose your mother you have lost your best friend in the world. Hopefully I will have mine for awhile yet. |