A funeral with a twist

 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.

12 comments:

grandmapeg said...

She sounds like a wonderful lady and what a wonderful life she lived. I also noticed that you and she share the same birthday! I've still got to try this sugar cookie recipe.

Anonymous said...

What wonderful photos!
She was from my dad's generation, and yes, it was a great generation! My dad and his friends were all quality, respectable people.
darlene

Susan Rozier said...

Jill,
This is one your best blogs.
Dad

Rebecca said...

I am confused. So was this your mother's friend who died? And I think I would have liked her, she was a knitter.......Also I thought it was funny, they put that she refinished "oak furniture" .

Tyler Heasley said...

I like the part about Halloween. You've never been into candy, have you Mom?

Grandma Honey said...

grandmapeg~ I'm impressed you noticed her birthday being the same as mine.

Rebecca~ Sorry, I was thinking this might be confusing....The woman who died was actually our neighbor in the 1960s and 70s, and this neighbor was coincidentally related to my Mom's best friend from her school days. I know, interesting all the things she was into! Maybe that's why she lived so long...all her volunteering, and walking.

Tyler~ I ate LOTS of candy growing up. I use to love it. We would come home and spend the evening trading our Halloween candy, but no one would EVER put their pumpkin cookie in the trading pile.

btw, Tyler, did I ever tell you that you did not like sweets as a toddler or little boy? You would walk right past a plate of choc chip cookies. People would see you do that and be amazed. But you did so love sweet potatoes.

Tyler Heasley said...

Maybe what we like in our childhood we don't like as adults, then. And vice versa. Because you can ask Karen—I would trade my shirt for a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

Grandma Honey said...

Keep your shirt on,Tyler.

Chanel Girl said...

I like the photos very very much.

My Mom is your generation so in that time,people were more respectable and good.They were more honest and kind.

The life in these years was fantastic.

I like your blog.See mine:
www.fashionandallaboutit.blogspot.com

Darlene said...

What an interesting person your neighbor was. My goodness, she was a very active person, wasn't she? That's probably why she lived such a long life. To be 97 is quite a thing, especially if one can still have all their smarts at that age.

I am glad that you have Mrs. Wild's recipe. I think it is great that you asked her for it when you were only 10 years old! I am definitely going to try these.

You know, it's funny, but when I was a little girl, I didn't like sweets very much (how I did change) When a got three pennies saved up, I would go to the store and instead of buying candy, I would buy a yeast cake!! Isn't that weird? I really did love them though, and to tell you the truth I would love them now, but I don't recall seeing those old fashioned yeast cakes in the stores anymore. Everyone uses the dry yeast, including me, but I do love the taste of yeast to this day. Maybe that is why I love to bake almost anything that requires yeast.

Thanks for such an interesting blog. I am sorry I am so far behind in reading blogs. I am still not well, and it has been too long. Hopefully I will turn the corner soon. Thanks for all your helpful suggestions.

Karen Mortensen said...

Seems like a wonderful lady. I love all the pictures.

Lisa said...

Your post reminds me of my weekend! I enjoyed reading this post for so many reasons but I thought it was mighty cool that you could just go to your mom's scrapbook & pull a picture to scan & post like that!

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