My Mother's Story (part 1)

My mother’s birthday will be April 14th, and this year she would have been 90. She died 3 years ago this year on April 15th, at 87.

She was a remarkable woman, and everything I am I owe to her, both the good and the less desirable traits. I am grateful one of the stronger inclinations she instilled in her children was the idea that we can continually grow and learn.

Born in rural southwestern Kansas, on a farm at the end of WWI and the end of the flu pandemic of 1918, she grew up through the depression, attending school in a one-room schoolhouse. She was one of four siblings, three sisters and a brother. My mother learned all the skills required of a female at the time, and became an extraordinary seamstress, making a living doing so later. She became adept at knitting as well as gardening. I believe there were probably other skills and talents but these are the main ones I associate with the woman I knew.


with her sisters...


Mother liked to dance, and in the small town near the farm on which she was raised, there were dances held on the weekends. It was at one of these dances she met Daddy. He was from another town, not a farmer, but a welder, and as I understand it, a very good one. She was certified to teach, and was employed teaching in a rural one room school.

before they were Momma and Daddy...

They married, started a business in town, and had three babies during WWII. Daddy kept farm equipment working at a time when all factory resources were applied to the war effort. Therefore, he was not allowed to serve. His best friend was killed overseas, and I believe Only Brother was named after this best friend.

with the 'big kids'...

During this time, my parents started flying lessons. They became the first married couple to solo in single engine aircraft in western Kansas. When my mother’s third pregnancy was ratted out to the authorities by her sister, the nurse, she was not allowed to fly, and did not finish the required solo hours to achieve her license. After that…well…there were three kids. Need I say more? I think Momma also purchased her 35mm camera around this time. I remember this camera well at family events as a child, but it was only later, as an adult myself that I recognize how cutting-edge this was for a young woman in the early 40’s.

the photo from her pilots license...

My father’s business was not successful due in part because of his inability to pursue payment from those who had members of their families serving. There were probably other reasons, too.

When Daddy sought to support the family with employment with the pipelines, Momma traveled with him, with the kids. Many of the other employees, who traveled laying the big pipelines from Mexico to Canada and beyond, had families who stayed put somewhere. Not Momma. She was an adventurer, and everywhere she went, they played the tourists. With her camera! Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Canada, to name just a few of the places.

that's me and Dearest Sister...

Tomorrow, my version of my mother's story continues.