My Mom

I mentioned previously that my mother lives with us. She came here in June of 1998. She passed away on Mother's Day, May 11, 2008. When she first came here, she was going on 80 years old. Taking care of her home and yard in St George, was more and more difficult for her. My parents moved to St George in March of 1979 because of her heart problems. The lower altitude and cleaner air was good for her. She had suffered a major heart attack in July of 1977, and that was followed by open heart surgery in November where she had a guardupple bypass. She was told she could live 12 years if she followed doctors orders. She lived almost 31 years following that surgery.
After my parents moved to St George, they continued to be fabulous grandparents and made many trips to SLC to visit us. They took the children on vacations with them. Camping in Pine Valley was a favorite. They purchased motorcycles for the grandchildren. They welcomed their friends for summer vacations at their home. I could write a book about their love, caring, and assistance to us as a family.
In June of 1992, my father passed away in a tragic accident. He was priming the engine of their motor home, getting it ready for a trip, and the engine, (inside the motor home) backfired. Unfortunately dad was holding a jar of gasoline that he was using to prime the engine, and it exploded in a ball of fire, and he was killed.
Mom continued to carry on there in St George, and we went more often to visit her. She flew here for special occasions. As time went on, she needed a pacemaker, and she had more heart problems, and gradually she weakened to a point that she felt she should no longer drive or live alone.
When she came here in 1998, she started to feel stronger, not having that hard work she was doing in St George. She took on repsonsibilities here in the home. She cleaned and cared for her own room, and her little Dachshund, Penny, who was 2 yrs old when she came. She also had a Cockatiel, Lacy, who she loved and cared for. She did all of the dishes and cleanup after dinner. She helped with cooking, and played with her great-grandchildren when they were here, and she absolutely lived for her family. She was adored by grandchildren and their spouses, and her great-grands.
Mom found a good doctor here, and continued to follow guidlines for her health. We both had memberships at the Dimple Dell fitness Center here by us, and we walked two and a half miles a day there on the inside track. We also walked Penny, in local parks. We enjoyed shopping together, and going out to eat once a week. In the evenings we watched the news together and I rented good movies. We talked about everything. She was my best friend, my confidant, and my resource for information. She remembered everything, names, dates, people, things that happened years ago.
Mom continued to have health problems and we spent a lot of time, more each year, in doctors offices, and sometimes hospitals. I always marveled at her strength to go on, and especially her attitude and her sence of humor which seems to get better and better as her trials became worse and worse.
In November of 2007, Penny bcame very ill in her old age, and was put to sleep. Mom suffered a heart attack a few days later. While in the hospital, Dan Hubrich (grandson) came to the ER that first night, and gave her a beautiful Priesthood blessing. He told her that it was not yet her time to go, and that she would be alright for a time. She was admitted a few hours later, and after 2 days, to prepare her for an Angiogram, that test was performed. She had had several in the past, and her doctor was hoping that with new smaller stents etc, that she might benefit from angioplasty again. When he got a picture up of her heart circulation he stopped and told me that he did not even know why she was alive with the amount of circulation going to her heart. Tiny little vessels she had developed with her walking over the years were all that were sustaining her. Every major artery was blocked. He said she would continue to have more and more closures and finally one would take her. He did not give her long to live.
None of this bleak news broke mom's spirit. She said her life was in the hands of the Lord, and every day she continued to make lists of things to do, people to write encouraging letters to, etc. I stayed closer to her, and as the weeks went by she was able to do less and less. With my help, she got her last batches of Christmas fudge, popcorn, fruitcake, and peanut brittle done, and packaged for gifts. She wrapped 70 little gifts for the ten great grandchildren to receive from the sled, which she had done since her oldest grandchild, Randy was two years old. Eventually, she resigned herself to a walker, and to a transport chair. She worried about how her care and pushing her around in the chair to doctors etc, was affecting me. She always lived outside herself thinking of others, and she never wanted to be a burden. She never was. We worked on her life story and scrapbook, which was not finished when she died, but is my project to finish now.
My mother left us a legacy of love, of faith and endurance. She will be remembered for her love, her devotion to God, her good works throughout her life, and her charity to others. I miss her terribly, but know she is in a good place, free from the pain and anguish of this world. I know I will see her again, and look forward to that day.