My Mother was very active all of her life. When she was just out of high school, she attended nurse's training in El Paso Texas where she became a Registered Nurse. During World War II, she worked at the army hospital in El Paso. She met my father after the war, got married and quit "working" for bit while she had two children and traveled the world with my father who was in the military. Once my father retired from the Air Force, they settled in Austin. My mother quickly became active in the life of the community here. She and my father joined a small, new Presbyterian Church in their neighborhood and were very active in the congregation. She also volunteered at the library at my elementary school. When we kids got old enough to stay home in the afternoons by ourselves, my mom went back to work for the Austin Health Department, inspecting Head Start Day Care Programs all around the city. Very few mothers worked outside the home in those days. But she was still a great mother to us even working full time.
Once I reached high school, my mother, now in her 50's, decided to return to school. She began working on her Bachelor's degree in Sociology at Texas State University in San Marcos Texas. It's about a 30 minute drive from Austin. But she did it all week long, by herself. An unusual thing for a 50 year old woman back then. After I left for college, my mother, having obtained her BA, went on to the University of Texas for her Masters in Library Science. Once she graduated, she began working for the Austin Independent School District at the Materials Processing Center for the school libraries.
When my mother retired from AISD, she really started getting involved in the community. She mentored children in reading at the local grade school because she believes so strongly in reading and education! She was (and still is) big into recycling. ACH! We never throw anything away in our house because it can be recycled somehow!
My mother served as the president of her neighborhood association and for many years.
She often spoke in front of the City Council on behalf of her neighborhood. She was an integral force behind the building of a permanent structure for her neighborhood's library. In honor of her efforts, a conference room was dedicated to her there. Mom was also in charge of the distribution of the newsletter for the neighborhood association. She made sure all the routes were covered by volunteers and even walked her own route delivering newsletters for several years. She learned all about computers in an effort to keep up with the newsletter and the neighborhood association. All of this community activism really started for my mother once she was in her 60's and 70's.
About 4 years ago, my husband and I decided to give up our house and move into my mom's house. She was about 83 at that time. My father had passed away and mom was living alone in the same house that I grew up in. We didn't want her to have to move from her home or to leave the neighborhood she had worked so hard for, so we stored most of our furniture and squeezed back into the old house. It's been 4 years now, and mom is 87 years old. She's losing her hearing, walking a little wobbly, and not too good with the short term memory at times. I have to say my husband is a real sweetheart. He manages to cope with her very well, but it's frustrating at times. My mother would really would like to get around better and not be so tired all the time. However, old age has caught up with her. She still tries to do things that she really shouldn't do now. I know it makes her upset when we caution her or when she isn't able to do what she used to do.
All in all, it's hard to grow old. But the one thing my mother hasn't lost is her sense of integrity. About her family, her friends, and her community. That's the one thing I know she will always hold on to and that's the one thing that truly makes her a very special person and a terrific mother.
LINKS:
Windsor Park Branch LibraryWindsor Park Neighborhood AssociationNortheast Austin CaregiversLabels: Starting Over
