Mothers Day

My mom led an extraordinary and full life. The youngest of three, she was raised in Johnstown PA, northern Appalachia. Her dad died when she was a teenager. Her mom, who never finished high school, went to work as a domestic.  

She was able to attend William and Mary thanks to money provided by an older brother who was a football star at W&M and briefly went pro. She met my dad there. They raised five children. Shortly after her youngest was born, she started taking graduate school classes, and in her early 40s, earned a PhD in experimental psychology. After a two-year postdoc at The Rockefeller University in Manhattan, she returned to East Tennessee to teach, and as part owner/operator of The Energy Outlet, a store that sold window heat pumps and woodburning stoves.

 

A few years before my parents retired, they bought a place in rural Washington County NY. After they moved there, my mom declared that she would live there until she died. She loved the area, and developed close friendships at the Northshire bookstore in Manchester VT and through a book club in Bennington VT. She also served as a child advocate for the state of VT family court in Bennington. For about 20 years, she kept Shelties.

 

In 2009, at the age of 78, my mom rode four of the six days of Ride the Rockies on the back of a tandem bicycle piloted by her son, Mike. Even as her health declined, she maintained an active and curious mind and sharp wit. She was a tireless reader.

 

I was never good enough for my mom. One of her favorite sayings to me was “Don’t try, Joel, just do it.” That was long before Yoda. She was a master of passive-aggressive. She had a great laugh but made you work for it.

 

She did a lot and saw a lot, but never really became jaded. She asked more questions than she offered advice but knew more than she let on. She taught me a passion for books and for learning, and an attraction to smart people.