PAYING TRIBUTE

Perhaps Abraham Lincoln said it best: “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 9. As the holiday approaches, the LW Weekly wants to take a moment to pay homage to motherhood and celebrate every selfless act that moms do daily for their families.Whether you are remembering a mama long gone or savoring a bygone season of mothering, we salute all mothers and mother figures today.

Barbara Houck, Mutual 10 I remember Mother—We Were Not Allowed to Call Her Anything Else

My mother Lois Olive Warren (Pettit) Cowan, was an extraordinary woman. She was always the lady, and we were taught be the same.

She was always well-dressed, fashionable and well-coiffured. In fact, she was a hair dresser for most of her working life. Mother would make sure we were dressed appropriately for school, with our hair in place.

We lived on a farm with my step-father. She cooked for threshers, hunted eggs, worked the garden, and washed and ironed all our clothes, so they would be immaculate. And she would do all this, and still be very well-groomed.

Years later, she moved to Lancaster, California, to be near me when my first daughter was born.

Some residents here might even remember her living in Leisure World. Before that she was living alone in Lancaster, which is about two hours away. In 1995, she had some medical issues. My husband and I thought it best for her to be nearer to us. We found an apartment a few buildings away and purchased it for her.

She lived there from 1995 until her death in 2006. She loved getting on the bus and going up to the market, where there were a few tables for the coffee spot.

Mother was a flirt and loved chatting with the men who also gathered there. She loved it here and went everywhere in her scooter, especially the shopping center. And yes, she would still tell me if she didn’t think I was dressed right.

Cindy Gannon, Mutual 4 My Mother was the Light of My Life.

Geraldine Africa was the light of my life. She taught my brother David and me right from wrong. Growing up in the 1930s, lean times prevailed, but Mom always had food on the table. I wish Mother were here to tuck me in bed at night.

Good night, Mommy; see you soon.

Linda Allen, Mutual 4 My Sweet Mother To my sweet mother, Polly Donley (Mutual 14): Thanks for teaching me to be my own unique self. You surrounded me with bright possibilities and gave me wings to fly. Happy Mother’s Day.

Daughters Barbara Smith, Beverly Morang and Susan Pullen Our Mom is a Treasure Our mom, Margaret Smith of Mutual 9, always had her daughters’ best interests at heart. She is always the first to help her neighbors. She loves cooking brownies, banana muffins and cookies, and she delivers them to lots of friends in Leisure World.

We are so happy we get to spend quality time with mom and dad. My twin and I treasure each day we are with them. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! We love you.

Anna Derby, Mutual 5 My Mother: Wonderful and Resilient It has been already 16 years since my mother passed away in the summer of 2005 but sometimes I still imagine I would hear her voice if I called Korea.

My mother was born and raised in small town southwest of Seoul. She was one of six girls, who was not given a higher eduction because, at the time, it wasn’t deemed necessary to find a good husband and become wife and a mother.

At age of 18, she married and at 19, she became a mother.

In all, she had nine children, losing two daughters in infancy. She did not have many resources or convenience in her life.

For her, being a mother was the most important role of all.

My parents wanted their children to have as much education as they could afford, an opportunity they did not have.

Our middle class family—my mother and father and seven children—was happy growing up and then we lost our father to a heart attack.

I was only 20 years old, and my mom was a widow at 49 years age. We didn’t have much to hold on to. The only sibling who had finished school was my oldest brother Bok Kyu. He had a good job at a bank in Seoul. With his sacrifice, the rest of us were able to finish our educations, and life went on. All of my siblings ended up settling in America, Germany and Vancouver, Canada.

My siblings and I missed our mother dearly as she stayed in Korea. We all called her weekly, but we had to make sure it was not during her prayer time. When she was 60, she converted to Christianity from Buddhism. She spent one hour a day praying for her children, grandchildren and their families.

Throughout her 89 years life, we had many significant moments and family affairs. One of the happiest came in the summer of 2001. My daughter Jane was to be married in a one-of-a-kind wedding in Malibu.

My siblings and I weren’t sure my mother could travel. She was 85 years old, suffered from painful arthritis, and the flight would be a grueling 11 hours. But I knew she wouldn’t miss her granddaughter Jane’s wedding, no matter how challenging it was to attend.

Her once-in-a-lifetime experience began with rehearsal dinner to meet the groom’s family and friends. A beachside wedding was held the next day. It brought her to tears. After that there was sightseeing in LA, a trip to the Santa Monica Farmers Market, to Brentwood and a Getty Center visit, with each of nine family members taking turns pushing her wheelchair.

It was most precious to spend time with her as a family. We all got to tell her how much we appreciated all she had done for us. Our hearts were filled with joy that we were able to show her love. My mom was fragile and vulnerable, yet she was determined to spend every minute possible with her children. The memory of that trip persists to this day as I pay tribute to my amazing mother on this Mother’s Day.

Ethel Carter, Mutual 2 My Mother: A Great Influencer My mother, Essie Mildred Bohannan Carter, was a great influence on my life. She was born on the 4th of July, 1909, in Huntsville, Arkansas. As a child she was rather shy and timid, but she was very protective of her younger brother and carried pebbles in her pockets on the way to school to use against any bullies who might attack him.

Essie’s family moved to California in 1928, after she attended college for a year at the University of Arkansas. They settled in the town of Fullerton. She married my father, John Cecil Carter, in 1934, during the Great Depression. She and Cecil bought a 2-acre farm in Anaheim on Ball Road three years later. I was the youngest of their three children, born in 1942.

As a farm wife and mother of three, Essie was a very hard worker. She loved animals and she and Cecil had a variety of animals, besides family pets, during the 40s.

At one time they had a thousand rabbits in hutches. Essie would often have to save baby rabbits when they fell out of their hutch by putting them on a newspaper in our kitchen oven, propping the oven door open a crack and putting the heat setting very low.

She helped plant a huge vegetable garden and fruit trees and canned green beans and peaches for the family to enjoy during the colder months. She was known for her boysenberry cobbler recipe.

I have fond memories of my mother rocking me as a toddler. She sewed dresses for me on a Singer Sewing machine with a treadle when I started school. She encouraged my love of singing and got me started taking accordion lessons when I was 9. She made sure I attended Sunday School and church, and read the Bible. She encouraged me to study hard and prepare to graduate from college to become an elementary school teacher.

I became a caregiver for my aging mother in 1997. She lived to the age of 93, having lived in Seal Beach Leisure World for the last nine years of her life.

Anna Derby's daughter Jane Mohon with her grandmother, Bok Nyu Lee, at Jane's wedding in Malibu.