These photos are of my mom as a young mother in 1948 at the age of 33 and then a more current one. Pretty good for a gal in her 90’s, huh!

Hello Friends,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything at all on the blog, but I’ve been preoccupied for quite some time now. My mom, Ruth E. Linn, lived in an assisted living center near me and started going downhill quickly in December. She passed away in the early hours of January 1st, 2010.  She was 94 years old.

Mom’s wedding anniversary to my dad was on New Year’s Eve, but this time she was in a coma and too far away to enjoy it. She was being kept alive by an oxygen face mask.  In fact, we as a family knew that we’d have to take her off life support as she wished, but we wanted her to see the new year. So we brought in some sparkling grape juice and cheese and crackers. We thanked her for the life we’ve had and toasted her on the way to her new life. Family and friends stopped by to take her hand and tell her she was loved. Others called from long distances and I held the phone up to her ear so they could say good bye. At the end, it was only my brother and I holding her hands till she left us. I’m so thankful she was never in any pain and I’m so grateful for the wonderful care she received in the hospital.

Mom was one of 11 children — five of whom died at birth or in infancy. Another brother was lost in the great influenza pandemic of 1918.  She was a  young woman during the depression and never stopped being frugal with any money she had for the rest of her life. She was half Irish, so perhaps that’s where the stubbornness came in or the feistiness or her sense of humor.

When she married my dad on New Year’s Eve of 1937 out in California, they were going to return to Iowa but only had enough train fare for one person. Dad wanted to put her on the train and hitchhike home, but she wouldn’t hear of it. So they both hitchhiked across the country in January! Can you imagine the lack of roads or cars back then? I always thought that was the bravest and craziest thing she ever did (I mean, besides having us four kids.)

My dad died 32 years ago and  her beloved sister a year later, so I would imagine that they are having a great reunion now. She has her parents and grandparents there, as well as a daughter, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren. A few years after my dad’s passing, she married a man named Howard and they were together for 20 happy years till his death in 2004.

Mom was a master organizer and was always in charge of the bake sales for our church building fund. They baked pies and bread and cakes all from scratch and had a city-wide following whenever a sale was held. One day she was calling her customer list for some preorders and she got a wrong number. That didn’t stop her and she sold them some pies and bread anyway. Looking back,  I think the ladies of the church built that chapel out of whole wheat bread loaves instead of bricks! She was also a nurse who ran a halfway house for people coming out of the mental institution and the home for those who were mentally challenged. They all thought of her as their mom too.

In 2007 we moved mom (almost with dynamite) out of her home of 62 years in Iowa.  She actually loved it out here in Utah and made a lot of friends too at the little assisted living center. I’ve been with mom nearly every day for the last two years. It’s like second nature to me and even while I was arranging things for the funeral, I’d stop and think, “Oh, it’s almost 5:30. I’d better get over to mom’s.” I wonder when that will stop. I know I’ll miss her.