My mother was born November 3, 1928—she would have been
85 tomorrow. She grew up in Rockwood,
Texas, which is little more than a ghost town now. Mother would take me there when we would
visit my Aunt Ludy Jane in a nearby town every summer. We would go to Rockwood to visit the graves
of her parents, Ludy and Rutilla Crutcher, and my mother’s brother, Gail, who
died of polio as a baby. We would stop
at a store that had Big Red soda and Moon Pies, and Mother would visit and
catch up on the local news while I had a treat.
When she was twenty she worked at a five and dime store
in Coleman, Texas. It is at this store that Vernon Norris, my daddy,
stopped by on his way through from California to Eastland, Texas where his
family lived. He met my mother, and
asked her out for a soda after she got off work. He journeyed on to Eastland, and when he got
there, he mailed her back an engagement ring.
On February 25, 1949 at the age of 20, mother married daddy, and the
following year she had my sister, Dorinda, and three years later my brother,
Darrell, was born. Mom and dad moved as work took him from the Houston
area to Oklahoma when he was transferred to Tinker Air Force Base. I came along when they lived in Midwest City.
Mother was primarily a homemaker, but worked outside the
home occasionally as well. She worked at
what was once called Continental Plastics now Carlisle Food Service Products on
Lincoln Boulevard. She made Bains Marie,
the round plastic food storage tubs, but for the life of me I always thought
she said Bangmarie, and you know when you google that you cannot find it.
She also worked at Dairy Queen (one of my favorite
places), at Nicoma Park Junior High and other Choctaw-Nicoma Park schools and at
Country Estates Elementary in the kitchen.
Yes, my mother was a lunch lady. And
in later years she was a private duty nurse.
We were raised in church. I think I was born on a Friday and in the
nursery at church a week and two days later.
When I was growing up it seemed to be just what we did on Sunday
morning. In fact, it was odd that one Sunday
morning we got up and Mother said we were not going to church because she had a
bad dream about Darrell. As it turned
out, he had been in an accident in Texas, and we left that morning to go get
him. She had those premonitions on
occasions.
When I was eight, I received this Bible, a Children’s
Living Bible. On the presentation page
it says, presented to me by after which it reads, “love and prayers and best
wishes, Mother and Daddy.” And should I
be confused as to who that is she wrote, “Edith and Vernon Norris.”
She would always write in the covers of books she gave
me. I think Dorinda and I discovered our
great love of books from her. In the
case of this Bible, which has seen its fair share of wear and tear as you can
see, she wrote where to find scripture passages in her beautiful flowing
script. She had impeccable penmanship. She also wrote this inscription:
“Sonja, always let God have
his way in your life. Hide his word in
your heart. Let your life shine for
Christ always, and you will receive many blessings from God.”
What do you know, she was right. Of course, me being me had to discover that
on my own.
The mother I had as a child is the mother I remember
today. The one who tucked me in at night
as we said prayers. Who I thought was
the most beautiful woman in the world.
She was the one who for better or worse—and we had plenty of both—loved
me and I her.
Today I envision the picture of my mother and daddy on
their wedding day. A beautiful young
woman about to embark on the grand adventure that is life. Not knowing what lay ahead, but she smiled
that beautiful smile anyway. She always
did have a beautiful smile right up to the very end.
My Sister, Brother, and I along with our families would
like to express our appreciation of your thoughts and prayers during these past
couple of weeks. It has meant a lot to
us and we thank you for your presence here today to celebrate Mother’s life.
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