Area residents pay homage to mothers

By RENEE FITE
Press special writer

TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS May 12, 2008 11:10 am

— Mothers are like flowers, some prettier and sweeter than others, and some are tough and hardy, but still they’re all part of a beautiful garden of love.
No one loves us like our mother or holds us near and dear to her heart like our mother, or grandmother.
After all, how could you go through months of being huge and uncomfortable, survive the birthing process and not be greatly in awe of and in love with the tiny, beautiful baby that brings joy and tears to our lives?
Mother’s Day is the time to reflect on what we admire, appreciate and enjoy, or have enjoyed, about our moms.
Moms are the people who, over the years, wash tons of dishes, cook thousands of meals, wash load after load of laundry, remind us what we’re supposed to do, try their best to teach us right from wrong, drive us places, patch our “boo boos,” hug our tears away and love us unconditionally.
Heather Winn said her mom, Linda Sand, is the one who takes care of “all of us.”
“I appreciate her love for her grandchildren and her mother, Juanita Booth, my meme. She’s 84” Winn said. “She’s still very open minded and she’s seen a lot of change in her life. She accepts it and goes on. She’s had bad health issues but it’s never stopped her from doing things like going on a cruise with us.”
Winn said, as kids, she and her siblings looked forward to spending a weekend or week in the summer with her.
“That week with her was the week we looked forward to,” Winn said. “She knows a lot of things. She’s still teaching me. I love my meme.”
Ross Winn, 5, Heather’s youngest son, said his mom is really nice.
“She loves me,” he said. “She takes good care of me and she takes good care of my skin.”
Winn’s eldest son, Tyler, 11, said his mom is cool because she gets to do a lot of fun stuff with 4-H.
“She takes me everywhere I need to go, to ride my bike and skating every Friday night, and she’s a really good cook, especially the brownies.”
Linda Sand said she appreciates her mother Juanita Booth’s faithfulness, generosity and that she’s such a great cook, describing her as loving, generous and strong.
“We even went on a cruise together a couple of years ago,” Sand said laughing. “That was really interesting and fun. Heather and I got sea sick and that’s not something to share in a small bathroom. Mom was fine.”
Booth, 84, appreciated that her mother, Ella Mae Metcalf, was a good cook, too.
“It’s kind of hard to remember back that far. She was just a good mother,” Booth said. “You can’t do without a mother.
Sand said she feels like she’s been a part of helping Winn be who she is.
“It makes you proud of how good of a mom Heather is and parents your kids become. I admire the way she takes care of Ross,” Sand said. “I think if he had any other person for a mom he wouldn’t be here.”
Winn also appreciates her mother for not only teaching her and her brothers, but so many other children.
“Our house was like a three-ring circus,” Sand joked.
Sen. Jim Wilson said he was raised in a matriarchal household, including his mother Mary Wilson and grandmother Elsie McCammon.
“She taught us to respect women and treat them as equals,” Wilson said of his mother. “I think that was a valuable lesson. We all prosper when we’re not racist, bigoted or intolerant.
“There was no body we would not befriend. She taught us that.”
Wilson said even in the Senate, he sees people who look up to or down to people, but think they have no peers.
“They waste energy on trying to decide if they’re better than the next guy. They try to hurt instead of help,” he said. “I think it’s important how we were raised. You never get away from that.”
He said his mother was way ahead of her time. She graduated from a university in the 1920s, and his grandmother from a university in 1896.
“They were for equal rights even before the women’s lib movement became popular,” Wilson said.
Gwen Grayson said thinking about her mother, Mary Moseley Hogan, started her remembering a lot of happy memories.
“My mother was a shy, polite Texas girl,” she said. “She liked things calm and unassuming.”
Grayson said a favorite memory was made during the 1950s when calypso music was all the rage.
“I somehow got the idea that a mother-daughter calypso outfit would be wonderful,” Grayson said. “She tried to talk me out of the idea, but I pleaded. So she made matching calypso outfits for us, black and white striped Capri pants with a jagged hem line and bright chartreuse tops. We wore our outfits to the summer company picnic and skated together in them to the Banana Boat song at my ninth birthday party.
“I laugh every time I think of those ridiculous costumes, but I am thankful that I was blessed with a Mother that was a good sport and gave me so many joyful memories. I miss her everyday.”
Mayor Ken Purdy asked where does one start when speaking about their wonderful mothers?
“I can think of few forces in the universe as formidable in protecting their families and in the next moment I can think of few sources of wisdom that are as great as mothers sharing their experiences with their children,” he said.
Purdy described his mother, Mary Lou Purdy, as loving, wise and compassionate.
“She established the first certified kindergarten class in our family basement, originally to earn money for a washer and dryer” he said. “But generations later she was still teaching because of her never-ending love for children and teaching.”
He said at the age of 40 she went back to get her master’s in early childhood development and worked with the public schools in developing their programs.
“Few people know their mayor went to kindergarten for six years,” Purdy joked. “Even if it was only for the snacks.”
Murv Jacob said, “How could you not love someone who did five million dishes, who had supper on the table every night? Some kids weren’t so lucky. Their parents were preoccupied.”
Deborah Duvall said she’s been told by lots of people her mother, Loretta Dunham, is one of the most beautiful people.
“She always encouraged all of us to do creative things,” Duvall said. “Neicey (Finch) and I would be singing in the back seat at the top of our lungs and she never told us to be quite, unless we were fighting. She appreciated our singing.”
Duvall said her mom was very independent and worked hard like a man.
“She sat with my dad all the time until he died,” she said. “Mom is loyal, beautiful and energetic.”
In a word, most mom’s are amazing.
Happy Mother’s Day.

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