Birthday Tribute to Maw!

My Mom, Eurith Melvene Williams aka "Babe" Williams, was born on July 16, 1928.

This first pic is her, with my Paw, Phil Johnson, in 1945, just after the War.....Maw was 17 & Paw was 19.....just a couple of crazy, hormonally-challenged, cornfield Kids from Northern Illinois.....

To my Half-Sibs I would say this......it, if this upsets you, ain't about you.
This is the oldest pic of Mom in my personal archives! Back in them days, this is how things was done.......two teenagers fall "in Love", get married, live happily ever after 20 years or so......

Mom &
Dad both gave it their all, got 3 really fine kids, and me, out of the deal, too!

But, hey! It was tumultous from the git-go! By 1966 they had both had their fill and went their separate ways.......Pa is another story, Mom married Jack Walters and provided my with my Sister, Christina *see a previous entry!)!

The second pic was at the request of Mom, wanting a "nice" picture of her to carry on after she was gone....I took the pic, Mom & her plate collection, in Mesa, Arizona, circa 1995, before she moved to Carlsbad, California.

Mom always, even after many years, hated the Desert, spent her last 4-5 years on the West Coast and, in her elder years, was, finally, happy.....

See, Mom was pretty neurotic at times.......a very happy, fun-loving woman, who also had a deep-seated sadness & discontent...Mom had a very hard life......

Many a night, in her old age, she bawled her eyes out over her lot in life! Mom was, for some obscure reason, not a "liked" person....one wo hurt her badly was her own Mother who, apparently, told her that she, "my Granny", simply didn't "like her (Mom)" ....all of this filtered down to me (maybe others, I dunno) as, in my youth, my childhood, Mom tagged me with such names as "Homely" and "Ugly" To this day, I am, Proudly, a Champion of the Campaign to STOP using the word "Ugly" in reference to another human! People! It Hurts! STOP IT!

Mom died. Most of us kids were there....My sister had already spent her bread-and-butter money taking care of Mom for several months and couldn't afford to attend the Services.....

I had not seen Mom since March, 1999, when I spent a week out there, in California, helping her to recover from a basic operation.....I was un-able to be there during her last days but, as miracles occur, after several days of being comatose and given-up-on, y phone rang and Mom caled me, sounding as able and coherent as ever, just to say "Good-Bye"......The next day, she was gone.....

Happy Birthday, Mom!

You made it rough for me at times but I still Love You!