A tribute to my mom

I posted this in the lounge but my good friend suggested I post it here too. PLEASE when you hear about Voter ID, think of my mom and how she thought she lost her right to vote at the end of her life. On the day she died, the MO Supreme Court threw out the law in MO, and we think that is her final legacy.

Feel free to PM me for more info about my mom and Voter ID.




My mom died last Monday and this is the picture we used for her obituary. It is in today's paper. They cropped it and just used her head but it is still a great picture of her and I wanted to share it.

Mom was 81 and had dementia. She had been in a nursing home since March. Some of you may have read the threads I posted in GD about her struggle to get registered to vote when she moved to MO. She was still mentally alert enough to want to register to vote and talked all the time about voting for the good Democrats in MO. She absolutely despised dubya. She was also very proud of me for my work with the peace movement and was so excited when I went to Crawford to see Cindy Sheehan and to New York in April for the UPJ peace march. She loved my pictures, especially the signs.

Mom was a lifelong Democrat. One of my earliest memories was knocking on doors for Kennedy in 1960. My mom always worked on campaigns. She also believed in helping the less fortunate and was a lifelong donor to many good causes, especially schools. When she retired, she volunteered in a food kitchen. When my dad got Parkinson's, she helped form a branch of the Parkinson's Society in her city and spent hours at the local office. This picture was taken at a gala she helped organize to raise money for Parkinson's.

My mom was a neat lady. She was a working mom in the 60s, when every other mom stayed home. But we weren't latch key kids. There was a wonderful grandmother in our neighborhood who took care of us at our house. And our grandmother spent a lot of time with us too. Mom rose through the ranks at a big corporation from a secretary to management when she finally retired after 40 years. She also went to college until she had 300 hours credit - all As - but never graduated because she just loved going to school.

Mom also loved to play the stock market and put 4 kids through college and retired a millionaire. She grew up very poor so this was probably her proudest accomplishment. We used to tease her because she was so thrifty. She never bought new furniture. We didn't get a color TV until my dad found one at a garage sale. For many years, Mom bought all our clothes at thrift stores. We got 2 pairs of shoes a year, one for school and one for play. My parents never bought a brand new car until they were retired and we talked them into splurging. And for my entire childhood, they had only one car that my dad drove and my mom paid a co-worker for a ride to work. (When I was very young, I can remember my mom taking the bus to work.) And she and my dad put all 4 of us through private school and college. She was very proud of the fact that she had enough money to take care of my dad and then herself when they got old, and she didn't have to ask her kids to pay for her care, as she and her siblings had to do for their mother.

My mom was the best. Thanks for letting me share her picture. If anyone wants to see her obituary, send me a PM.

NT

because the supporting documentation needed for the IDs costs money. So it was considered a poll tax. The state had planned on providing the IDs for free, but you still had to pay to get a birth certificate that was necessary for the ID.

My mom's problem was that she was born at home and had no birth certificate. She had quit driving 10 years ago and had no idea what she did with her license. So she had no way of proving her identity. She was really upset about this and we spent all summer trying to figure out how to get her registered to vote.

and accomplished woman! I'm sorry for your loss. I see the joy in the wonderful legacy she's given you. You'll always feel her light and love around you. :hug:

What a great legacy and statement.

I'm so sorry for your loss. :hug:

I especially like this:
Mom was a lifelong Democrat. One of my earliest memories was knocking on doors for Kennedy in 1960. My mom always worked on campaigns. She also believed in helping the less fortunate and was a lifelong donor to many good causes, especially schools. When she retired, she volunteered in a food kitchen. When my dad got Parkinson's, she helped form a branch of the Parkinson's Society in her city and spent hours at the local office. This picture was taken at a gala she helped organize to raise money for Parkinson's.

Your mom was a beautiful woman!

She believed in helping people.

I know you're proud.

Thank you for sharing. You have my sincerest sympathy. Moms are irreplaceable--mine died 3-1/2 years ago at 96--but of course their memories never die, and the lessons they taught us sustain us always.

Blessings.

Wow how wonderful.

I'm sure she was very proud of you and she has left you a path to follow toward success in your own life. Just know she is not far away.

It sounds like you were blessed with a very special role model. Peace be with you and your family and thank you for sharing. I am keeping you in my thoughts.

:hug:

:hug:

It isn't easy losing a mother no matter her age or yours. I lost my mom to cancer when I was seventeen and I still think of her everyday. May you always feel her love around you.

so sorry for your loss. She sounds like she was a woman of great strength and character.

Hold on tight to the good memories. :hug:

She sounds like a great lady.

Thank you.

and to you! Thanks for sharing this.

:patriot:

She sounds like an intelligent, accomplished woman. A woman who made a difference in her life, and in the lives of others, and worked for positive change in the world.
Having been thru the loss of my own mother, 13 years ago now, I know what you and your family are going thru. You won't ever really get over it, but it will get easier with time, because you'll get used to it.
I send to you and your family prayers and thoughts of love and healing. Take care of yourself and your family, ask for help and lean on your friends when you need them.

and I am so sorry for your loss.

and she is watching over you proudly, from this day on.

My condolences to you and your family.

My condolences.

My mom is going on 79, still semi-independently at home.

Knock on wood.

in both the words you use to tell us about her and in the life you lead. I never met your mom but I know her through you. My heart is heavy with your loss. I know what it is like to lose a mom who fought the good fight and who taught me to do the same.

I love you. :hug:

:hug:

but at the same time it's uplifting to read about such a neat woman. :hug:

to have such caring, compassionate parents. They obviously influenced your life's passion!
:hug:

And I continue to be lucky having wonderful friends like you. :hug:

Thanks for being there for me this past week. You are a great great friend.

There is going to be a luncheon at the Carriage Club on Tuesday afternoon. You are welcome to join us.

and hope for your loss, sure in the knowledge that the good she did lives on in you. My condolences, my friend.

I'm sorry for your loss, but knowing the legacy she left, should make you very proud and happy.

When my Mom died, so much of me died with her. She was also a solid Democrat, and worked very hard
for her party. I woke up to politics on the day that President Roosevelt died; because Mom cried, and
grieved for the loss. My Father had died just a short time before, and she said it was such a personal
loss to lose our president. O8) :cry: :hug: :hug:

It sounds like she left the world a much better place for her presence. We need more people like her!

Thanks for sharing your wonderful memories of her. It's stories of individuals like your mother that give me hope.

My condolences on your loss.

She was a lovely, accomplished lady. I am so sorry for your loss.

I might be retiring after this year, thanks to my mom. That would be the best gift ever. They are talking about closing my school and I really don't want to go anywhere else. And coincidentally, I am eligible in June for retirement. Anyhow, if I do retire, you can count on me coming to DC and to Virginia. Leave a light on for me, okay? :hug:

We have plenty of room, and you truly are welcome anytime. I am eligible for retirement in June too. I have just about made up my mind to do it. What a luxury time will be!

That's a great obit. Deepest sympathy.

She produced you Proud2Blib!

you had a wonderful beautiful mother. O8)

Thank you for sharing your family's history.

:hug:

She was way ahead of her time, a truly liberated woman.

memories to keep forever.

I send her kisses every night in my prayers, and picture each kiss arriving to her as a rose, which was her favorite. She must by now have the biggest rose garden in heaven.
:cry: :hug: My deepest sympathies, my friend.

life with us. She was a remarkable woman. I hope you heal from this great loss.

And I'm glad she lives on in the wonderful things you do for the Democratic causes.

I took one look at your mother's photo and there was no doubt in my mind that she was a woman of good character, but also no doubt that she was quite beautiful.

What an amazing legacy she has left to her children, and to the world. You are so fortunate that you had someone like that in your life to love and respect and cherish forever.

Thank you so much for sharing. What an eloquent tribute. May your life be blessed tenfold with the love you have in your heart for your mother.

:hug:

... thanks for the inspiration.

Proud2blib,
You are so blessed to have had your mom so long and who was such a wonderful influence on your life and upbringing. I only wish I could have had a mom like had. Your mom sounds so amazing.
She sounds so emphatic, wise, smart and very much ahead of her time.

My mom was so uninvolved in the world that she didn't even know how significant and dangerous the missile crisis during JFK's time in office. I remember our neighbor coming over so distraught about what was happening and my mom had no clue what was happening.

My mom was never a believer in education. She loved material things and thought the way to get them was by marrying rich, which I didn't. You and your family are so blessed to have had such a great woman to guide you in this world by her example.

Be proud and I hope this will help you in your loss.