Remembering Lee's Sparkling Eyes

One of my most lasting and enduring and favorite memories of Mom is of her sitting at the kitchen table every morning crocheting. There was a period of time every day, between Daddy leaving for work and us kids getting up for school that Mom used for crocheting. She made hundreds of doilies, potholders, tablecloths, bedspreads, lace for the edges of pillowcases, and on and on. As I got out of bed each morning, I always peeked out into the kitchen to see Mom quietly sitting at the table crocheting. When we were small, I think crocheting was Mom’s way of relaxing a little and readying herself for coping with the coming day. In later years, I think her craft-making and sewing were ways to express her creativity and provided a way of doing something productive. If she felt down or lonely or if she needed to fill an empty spot in the day, she would get busy and create something she could feel proud of. Everything she made was an original design and a thing of beauty. Each Christmas ornament she made was different. She could take a white Styrofoam ball, cover it with a piece of colorful velvet, add sequins, pearls, old jewelry, and a bit of braid and create a masterpiece. I have every ornament she ever made for me. I won’t even part with the ones that are old and faded and fallen apart. They are each a part of my mother. She didn’t just churn out her crafts assembly-line-style. Each one had to be pleasing to her and pass her high personal set of standards. She not only crocheted and made Christmas ornaments, but she also created beautiful wall hangings and wreaths from pinecones and other natural materials. She made painted bread dough figures with Diana. I still have an Amish man and woman that she created to match the wallpaper in my kitchen. These few words don’t begin to do justice to her creativity. She truly had a God-given talent. Mom had been having severe abdominal pain for a couple of years before she passed away. She had many tests and x-rays, but the doctors just couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong with her. In April, 1988 she decided to visit Diana and Lee in Florida. She loved going there. Diana and Lee knew how to get her to relax and really have fun. Diana took a picture of Mom riding her exercise bike that I just love. Mom has on a sweatsuit and headband and is laughing so hard. We were all saddened when Lee passed away on Mom’s birthday on January 28, 1996. He was one of those soft-spoken Southern guys with sparkling eyes and a big smile, and I loved him a lot. On this particular April visit, they took Mom on a fabulous cruise, but her pain persisted. Diana was determined to take her from doctor to doctor until the cause of her pain was found. Finally, one of these new doctors took an x-ray from a slightly different angle than the others and found a large ovarian cyst wrapped around some blood vessels. She had a complete hysterectomy and no cancer was found. We were all so thankful; even the doctors thought it was a miracle there was no cancer. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t rally back from the surgery and passed away from heart failure at age seventy-seven, April 22, 1988, in Coral Springs, Florida. As Mom lay dying, I would often just stand by her bedside. She couldn’t talk because she was on a respirator, but would reach out and tenderly caress my hand and I would caress hers back. The love and comfort I felt from this simple act is something I will forever remember and cherish. I pray it also brought her peace. Mom is buried next to Daddy at Riverside Cemetery in Moline, Illinois. When I go back home and kneel by her grave I know that her legacy to me is “A love taught,given, and shared.”

DAD