UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for the kind words.
Christmas 1973, dad, me, my sister and mom. This is one of only a handful of family pics as mom hated to have her picture taken. Boy, those are some early 1970s clothes!
This morning at 2am my mother passed away. She was 82. Over the course of the year she’s endured strokes and several heart attacks, but it was especially in the last month that she faded quickly, both physically and mentally. I am gratefuly she went relatively quickly, unlike my father, who passed in 2019 and whose stroke in 2002 set him on a slow decline for more than a decade.
As many of you know, this comes on the heel of my mother-in-law’s passing in September; we surely didn’t expect my mother to follow my wife’s mother so quickly.
My mother was born in Seattle in 1939. Her father was an aeronautical engineer at Boeing, where he worked, initially, in the famous red barn, the original home of Boeing. He was a fun, silly man who loved woodworking, singing, and mischief.
Her mother was tough as nails, having grown up on a farm her parents homesteaded in Idaho. Because of this, Mom grew up with one foot in Seattle, a suburban teen, and one foot in Idaho, a farmer girl.
She attended Franklin High School in Seattle. That’s important specifically because her group of high school friends remained a tight group to this day. Her passing means that her group has dwindled to only five and all five are surely heart broken this morning.
After she married Dad in Seattle, they moved to Renton in 1963. She gave birth to me in 1965 and lived in that same house until we moved her in November to the elder care home.
When my sister got into gymnastics, my mother did as well, eventually becoming a judge. She worked as a judge at multiple levels for over 40 years.
Mom’s farmer-girl side got great joy out of her seasonal garden. We learned to pick strawberries, shuck corn, collect peas, and much more. During the summers we ate fresh fruit from our property: strawberries, huckleberries, black berries, blue berries, apples, raspberries, cherries, along with the fresh fruit and herbs. That was all her (dad on the other hand loved to grow trees).
When my sister wanted a horse, mom was right there, supporting her efforts emotionally and financially, support that continued right up until the day she died. This relationship and support of my sister naturally meant that they were closer.
I, on the otherhand, more independent, was not as close to her. Over the years, mom and I grew farther apart as our politics and other issues divided us more. My separation/divorce from my first wife in 2000 really ripped us apart and we didn’t speak for more than a year. It was actually dad’s stoke in 2002 that forced us to start communicating again. Still, and sadly, there was always a bit of distance.
From the time I started eWillys in 2008, mom often checked the site. She really loved to follow our trips and was a frequent commenter on the posts. She was always amazed and proud of the warmth, friendship and kindness so many of you shared with Ann and I on our journeys.
Mom was also a big fan of my books. She always wished I would contact Hollywood so they would make a movie of the Amber Panels book. She never quite understood that rewriting the book into a screen play was a non-trivial under taking, me for which I did not have. Still, I’ve always appreciated her support of that notion.
Despite our differences over the years, I never doubted that she was kind, thoughtful, and had a big heart. Having lived most of her life within a 10 mile area, she developed many friends and collegues over the years and those folks are mourning her this morning.
Godspeed Mom on your journey to join Dad.
Obviously, eWillys will likely remain lightly updated over the next week. Best wishes all for a better 2022.
One of the few pictures of mom driving the jeep. She and my sister are trying out a balance event at a jeep playday in the early 1970s.
