My mom would often talk through the years about her best friend growing up,
Betty Abbott. They were pretty much inseparable from grade school through college.
1951
So Dennis I attended a funeral yesterday and who should we get to see.....
Betty with her husband Marvin.
So naturally when I got home I looked up Betty in my Mom's scrapbooks and found this picture....
on Betty's wedding day with Mom being her Maid of Honor in 1949 !
In 1961 my parents, along with the first 4 of their 8 children,
coincidentally moved 2 houses down from Betty's husband's relatives....Faye and Ernie Wild.
The funeral yesterday was for Faye Wild....who lived to be 97!
She was always Mrs. Wild to me, and she has always been old.
What I remember most about her was the sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins
that she would personally hand out every Halloween.
It was one sugar cookie per Trick or Treater.
wrapped gently in a waxed sandwich bag.
Her cookies were the very best part of my childhood Halloween memory.
Finally one year when I was about 10, I asked Mrs.Wild for her recipe and she typed it up for me.
I use to make them for my siblings, friends, teachers, my sons and now my grandchildren.
Some highlights from Mrs. Wild's service yesterday:
1. She was one of 13 children!
2. Her son Walter said she was THE REAL DEAL MOM.
Empathetic, patient, willing to listen.
3. A great listener, not offering advice. If you were to go on and on talking about foolish things,
she would just listen and keep her mouth shut.
(This sounds very much like my own Mom.)
4. She was a big walker. She would walk everywhere. (she lived to be 97)
5. She believed in the golden rule.And she lived it.
She made it look easy, like a great athlete makes his sport look easy.
6. She spent her life serving others.
And like her son said, "That was A LOT of hard work."
7. Her children have very fond memories of dinner around the kitchen table.
8. She had a deep inner peace. She knew who she was.
She was grounded and solid.
9. The last 2 years of her life she lived with her grandson and his wife.
He said every night after their 2 year old would go into Great Grandma's room
to say goodnight, their son would come out with chocolate on his face.
10. Her grandson, who kept his composure throughout his talk until the very end
when he said, "I have great respect for her generation."
Did you notice the little flower girl in the 1949 wedding photo above? That was little Christy Wild.
She is the daughter of Mrs. Wild, and she spoke at her Mom's service yesterday.
Little Christy is now 70.
Mrs. Wild died exactly 5 years after my Mom, also on April 15th.