Evelyn Jackson passed on to her heavenly reward yesterday, September 27, 2010. She was my Mother.
Mom was born December 1, 1918 in Beerston, NY. She spent much of her early life in Cooks Falls. She never went further than 6th grade in school but had more common sense than most college grads! She was the spelling champion for Sullivan County when she was in school. I think she passed that trait on to me as I still point out spelling errors to anyone who will listen.
Mom was a remarkable woman in many ways. She was a great cook and baker. It was amazing to watch her "throw together" a pie without needing to read the recipe; you know, a little of this, a pinch of that. She baked pies for the Rainbow Lodge for years. If only she had charged them what they were worth...
Mom was also in charge of feeding and nurturing the calves on the farm. Replacement heifers are a key part of building a successful business and no one, I mean no one, was more up to that job than Mom. Mom was fully capable of feeding and milking cows too, and during haying season she might have had to do the milking with only a kid or two available to help. More than once she did the milking alone during special circumstances.
Mom would do anything for anyone, no questions asked, no expectation of pay. Have any of you out there ever had your mother drive you to a date, drop you off, drive you and your date home?? I have and it wasn't as bad as it sounds!! When I was a student at Cornell I would look forward to having Mom pick me up on Friday, drive back to Walton for the weekend, and take me back on Sunday with clean clothes for a week or two.
Mom loved her boys and often overlooked things that we did wrong. I'm sure that all the child raising experts would pronounce her a failure in today's world, but she only did what she knew how to do, and we all turned out OK, well sort of.. I don't ever remember being spanked as a kid by Mom, maybe a slap or two on the butt, or making me wash my mouth out with soap after I cussed, but never a spanking. When we were kids in Beerston I remember Mom threatening to pour ice water on us to get us out of bed!! She never did but we stayed in bed as long as we could before hearing her stomp up the stairs. We never did check for a pitcher of ice water, I doubt if it ever existed!!
Mom loved and enjoyed her grandkids too. Oh, how she loved to look at pictures of them and snuggle with them when they were babies. And she always had cookies. pies and cakes for them to eat. Food was a central part of our lives. It was really sad to see her only be able to be fed through a feeding tube the last couple of years. Life just ain't fair sometimes!!
Mom never travelled much or got to see many things. Milking cows twice a day kind of ties you down. She did come to Florida a couple of times, visited JoAnna and Russell in Tennessee, and visited Cousin Mary and Eric in Kentucky. She loved to drive her friends to Doctors appointments or just go riding. It was hard for her to give up her driver's license a few years ago, but when she was told that she could hurt someone , she gave it up willingly.
Mom never intentionally hurt anyone in her life; she wasn't capable of doing that. She saw the good in everyone, thought that everyone was capable of turning their lives around at any time. Going to Church was an important part of her life. Mom was a dyed in the wool Republican and was active in local politics.
Mom never drank or smoked in her life. A lot of her family were addicted to tobacco or alcohol and I think that she just made up her mind at an early age that she wasn't going to be part of that lifestyle. She lived the longest of any of her siblings; as I remember her sister Aggie died at 87.
It is really hard to write something to honor someone as special as Mom was. Any effort falls short. There just aren't words to describe the kind of lady that she was and the impact that she had on people's lives by doing the simple things that she did so well; a cup of coffee, a piece of pie, a ride to the Doctor's office, an ear to bend, a couple of bucks to "borrow". Mom was very self deprecating, and never thought that she was very good at anything. She was, in fact, great in her own way at everything!!
So St. Peter was sitting at heaven's gate yesterday when Mom came up to him with an apple pie and handed it to him. He asked what that was for and she said that when you visit you always bring something to eat. St. Pete looked at her and said, "Thanks for the pie but you aren't just visiting, and there's a guy named Graham over there who says he's been been waiting 15 years for a piece of your apple pie a`la mode with cheese!!!"
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