By: Paige Cline

“I wrote this last year. I think it still applies. 
Sunday is Mother’s Day. 
Folks all over the country pay honor to their deceased moms and take the ones still living out to eat. Almost everyone will pause at least a while to remember Momma. 
It was on a beautiful spring day in May that or mother passed away.It was warm with a gentle breeze moving the new leaves and blossoms outside the hospital window. It was the kind of day she loved to sit in her swing on our front porch and watch for her kids, and later her grandchildren. From there she watched the world go by and often reminisced about her life. 
And what a remarkable life it was. 
She was born near the turn of the century and was educated at the old Halsey one-room school on Bear Hole and later at Center District High School. She, as was done in those days, left the eighth grade to be with and to work for her older sister Mary Jane who was pregnant and ailing. As the older sis, Mary Jane had helped raise our mom. It was time for her to return the favor. 
Mom’s school days were over but her education never stopped. She was conversant in almost any subject you could raise. Except for her arthritic hands in her last years, she could work the daily crossword puzzle as fast as me. 
Early in her life, the Wright brothers had just flown their air machine. And the auto industry was in its infancy. 
During her life of over ninety years, she would ride in cars and horse-drawn wagons. She would see great airplanes. She lived to see men walk on the moon and return home again. 
She was married at age sixteen on the brink of World War I and endured that. She also lived trough World War II and sent two of her sons to fight. 
Between the wars, she held her family together through the Great Depression. But endurance alone did not define her life. She was the beacon that would guide our family. She was the epitome of what marriage vows are all about. She was beside our daddy and her kids, right or wrong. Being by our side did not mean that she upheld wrong. 
Her commitment stood after her children were grown and her grand and 
great grandchildren would learn first-hand of her noble character. Typical of our mom was when a brother brought a friend home and he met 
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her. She took his hand and said,” Call me Granny.” You were always welcome at Mom’s house. 
When she passed away on that beautiful Saturday afternoon in May, her children and their children were at her side. She fought, but was not afraid. It was just not in her nature to give up. Death held no terror for her. She had long since made her peace with God. 
I have described many mothers that I have known. Many of you will recognize these same qualities in your own mothers. Each mom has her own unique something that endears them to their families. 
And that makes them unforgettable.