My Mom

MY MOM

My mom taught those around her the importance of loving unconditionally, to open your heart and minds to those with differing backgrounds, to always keep learning, to give to those who have less, to believe in God and Jesus Christ, and that true happiness happens when surrounded by family and friends.

Mom grew up in the Ogdansburg/Morristown, NY area…in the North Country. Like many in her age group (those in the post depression era) their beginnings were humble, to say the least. Her father died when she was only 9 years old from a ruptured appendix because the only doctor in town was too drunk to perform surgery. The loss of her father at such an early age left a deep scar on my mom in many ways.

There wasn’t welfare in those days, so my grandmother cleaned houses and windows and just about anything she could do in order to scrape by. My mother and her younger brother received hand me down clothes from those who were more fortunate. My grandmother used to say, even to me as a child, “Just because a person is poor it doesn’t mean they have to be dirty”.

There was one particular little girl in school that would taunt my mom by yelling out to everyone else, “Ha-ha, look at Rose, she’s wearing my old dress”. Emotional scars run deep and I think that is one of the reasons my mom was so driven to succeed and achieve excellence in school. Years later, while shopping with my mom in downtown Syracuse we ran into that little girl from school. Lo and behold both my mother and she were wearing the exact same coat. After the woman passed by my mom grasped my hand tightly and said proudly, “Well, I guess she’s not better than me after all”. She was beaming.

Mom was the first in her family to graduate from high school. Not only did she graduate, but she accomplished this at sixteen with a four year scholarship to Syracuse University. However, love was always my mother’s driving force and instead of going on to S.U. she met, fell in love and eventually married my Dad.

My grandmother owned and operated a rooming house in Syracuse, not far from the original Carrier factory. My Dad rented a room there, post WWII while working at Carrier, but he reenlisted in the Army at the start of the Korean War. They married and moved to New Jersey were my Dad was stationed at Fort Monmouth and it is also where I was born.