The Month of May
On May 14, 1918, the world had its eyes fixed on Europe. Germany was in the middle of their Spring Offensive – their last desperate attempt to defeat the Allies before they were overwhelmed by the new men and material coming from America. It was the beginning of the end of World War I.
But 4900 miles across the ocean in the small but growing city of Denver, Colorado a little girl was born.
That little girl was my mother.
Every year when May comes around, I think of my mother. And as I think of her, she seems to me to be a unique blend of romanticism and practicality. As I look back on her life and what I know of her past, it displayed this blend of romance and efficiency.
She was a good student and her childhood was spent in school work, helping in her father’s grocery store and in summer visits to the family farms in Kansas. She would tell tales of her uncle being annoyed at finding sunflowers growing in various places where the seeds my mother was eating had spilled out of her pocket as she roamed the farm with her cousins.
After high school, my mother worked as an assistant with Dr. Grover, a Denver dentist. Their collaborative efforts won them national recognition in the area of forensic modeling.
She went to California seeking stardom, but ran out of money and ended up pumping gas to get enough money to return to Denver. She drove to Chicago and New York in the days when women weren’t expected to travel alone.
In 1941, she began working at Remington Arms Company in Denver – a pioneer in the wiring of computer punch cards.
Sometime later she moved to New York and attended modeling school, resulting in several modeling jobs.
She returned home in 1945 when her father became ill. After he passed away, she spent two years helping to run the store. Her mother passed away in 1947 and my mother sold the store and worked as a model for Morganti Modeling School in Denver.
Throughout her life, my mother was meticulous in everything she did and was always able to tackle whatever situation was put before her. She always loved traveling…especially along the less traveled roads. But she had a love for the west and always returned to it.
She would never have described herself as an idealist or as a Renaissance woman, but that is precisely what she was. She loved beauty but also marveled at efficiency. She had a love for what was good in the past and sought what could be good for the future if it was pursued with determination. She loved creativity and sought and promoted it in others.
I was fortunate to be one of her three children. She loved teaching children. She loved watching their eyes light up when an old idea sunk in or a new idea popped into their mind. Their joy became her joy.
This May 14 would have marked her 100th birthday.
In the poem “May”, Edith Willis Linn writes:
But 4900 miles across the ocean in the small but growing city of Denver, Colorado a little girl was born.
That little girl was my mother.
Every year when May comes around, I think of my mother. And as I think of her, she seems to me to be a unique blend of romanticism and practicality. As I look back on her life and what I know of her past, it displayed this blend of romance and efficiency.
She was a good student and her childhood was spent in school work, helping in her father’s grocery store and in summer visits to the family farms in Kansas. She would tell tales of her uncle being annoyed at finding sunflowers growing in various places where the seeds my mother was eating had spilled out of her pocket as she roamed the farm with her cousins.
After high school, my mother worked as an assistant with Dr. Grover, a Denver dentist. Their collaborative efforts won them national recognition in the area of forensic modeling.
She went to California seeking stardom, but ran out of money and ended up pumping gas to get enough money to return to Denver. She drove to Chicago and New York in the days when women weren’t expected to travel alone.
In 1941, she began working at Remington Arms Company in Denver – a pioneer in the wiring of computer punch cards.
Sometime later she moved to New York and attended modeling school, resulting in several modeling jobs.
She returned home in 1945 when her father became ill. After he passed away, she spent two years helping to run the store. Her mother passed away in 1947 and my mother sold the store and worked as a model for Morganti Modeling School in Denver.
Throughout her life, my mother was meticulous in everything she did and was always able to tackle whatever situation was put before her. She always loved traveling…especially along the less traveled roads. But she had a love for the west and always returned to it.
She would never have described herself as an idealist or as a Renaissance woman, but that is precisely what she was. She loved beauty but also marveled at efficiency. She had a love for what was good in the past and sought what could be good for the future if it was pursued with determination. She loved creativity and sought and promoted it in others.
I was fortunate to be one of her three children. She loved teaching children. She loved watching their eyes light up when an old idea sunk in or a new idea popped into their mind. Their joy became her joy.
This May 14 would have marked her 100th birthday.
In the poem “May”, Edith Willis Linn writes:
-
Only for once in the whole long year
Are the trees so robed in bloom
Only for once the lilac flowers
Yield up such rare perfume
Only for once the birds sing forth
A melody so gay
The sweetest promise of the year
Comes with the flowers of May.
May 2018