My 50th H S Reunion is coming up next May and our class has been responding to questions from another classmate acting as moderator. Today's questions was "who was the most important person/persons in your life" I decided it was about my parents.
My dad died 2 years ago, at age 93. He was a quiet, gentle, sharp witted and very capable man who could build or jury-rig anything. He joined the Navy at age 17, prior to WWII, and retired 21 years later at the age of 38 after serving in WWII and the Korean War. He had a HS diploma, but became an LDO officer via WWII promotion, and retired as a lieutenant, He was born in North Dakota, and grew up in Hermiston, OR on a small, barely subsistence level farm with 1 sister and 4 brothers.
My mom was a housewife, more talkative and social then dad, but strong, and adaptable. Thankfully no one told her that with an 8th grade education, she wasn't smart enough to teach me to read. She read to me daily, and had me reading at 4th grade level before I started first grade. She moved us back and forth across country several times, sometimes with my father overseas, and she had no fear of packing a car and trailer and hauling it across country on Hwy 66 with two kids in tow. She was as feminine as they come, but as tough as nails, far from helpless, and prided herself on being capable of managing without my father. It was the Navy wife way and she was proud that she could hold up the family on her own until he came home form war. She made most of my clothes until I was in HS and I had the Easter dresses of every little girl's dreams. She made my formals for my Junior and Senior proms and they were gorgeous. I never saw her look at a sunset or sunrise or mountain or lake without exclaiming about how beautiful it was; she taught me to really see things and gave me a sense of wonder and joy about the world. When we were going to a new duty station she would get all the info she could and tell us all about it, and about our trip going there, and how much fun it would be and what we'd see and all the wonderful things to do along the way and at our new home. Instead of crying and dreading leaving, we were excited to be off on the adventure. My beutiful mom died of Alzheimers at age 84.
So that is background on my parents, and this is what I wrote about their importance on my H S Class Facebook Page:
"My parents were the most important for countless reasons. They were so fair and reasonable, I couldn't even work up a normal teenage rebellion. They gave me deep roots and strong wings, a solid foundation, guidance, praise, support, and certainty that nothing would ever stop them loving me. They gave me a sense of wonder about the world, a respect for the earth, a love of the environment, joy of reading, learning, and science, a belief in helping others including rescuing strays (people and animals), and made my home the place where all my friends were welcomed and wanted to be. I carry these words of wisdom from my father" If you raise your voice, you've lost the argument, because as long as you have a valid point to present there is no reason to yell." and from my mother, "If you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all." And now, with my very important (to me) son, I try to pass all those things on to him."
There are so many other superlatives I could use about my parents, so many magical stories, but suffice it to say that they loved each other and us and believed in the basic goodness of themselves and others.
