No Mother, No Problem

Yes, I know, we all have a mother. Mine passed away over 20 years ago and I often think of her. Yet, there are many others who are never remembered. They are may be old and alone. There is no one to make Mother's Day (or any other day) special for them.

They are everywhere. Check with your local long term care facility, such as a nursing home or assisted living community. As your neighbors. Adopt a mother (or two) and make their day. A bouquet on Mother's Day would make their day. A card each month would be great. Your mother doesn't have to be gone in order to do this. I'm sure should would not mind sharing you.

Adopting a mother on Mother's Day has been on my Bucket List for several years. This is the first time that I have really promoted the idea.

Good Bye Virginia

Elsie Virginia Turley

1920-2010

Learning of the death of a friends always brings back memories and disappointment in not being there to say goodbye. So it was with Virginia. I first met her soon after I became the activity director for a retirement and assisted living community in Sandy, Oregon. She had a reservation for a very specific apartment in our facility and was a frequent visitor for lunch.

We quickly became friends. I think it was three of the things we had in common. We were both Navy. Virginia enlisted in 1944 after getting her teaching degree from Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. two years before. She served in both Chicago and Cleveland as a member of the Shore Patrol. She often told me that the reason she joined the Navy was to find a man, and she did.

They were married after the war and moved to New Jersey. Her husband Frank was involved in the Scouting program as was I in Oregon and California. That was our second link.

He husband was also a Kiwanian and I was the president of two different clubs. For many years Virginia helped prepare for their biggest fundraiser, a fly-in and cruise-n She would round up a crew and they would spend the day assembling the napkins and flatware for the pancake breakfast. When she moved she brought the party with her and we would invite her friends to join us for lunch.

We became friend and I had many wonderful conversations with her. She one of our Red Hat ladies and I drove many of their outings and other trips that she enjoyed. I remember being invited to a family dinner at a nearby restaurant.

A private burial with military honors was held at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland. I held a private memorial to remember a friend and fellow Veteran. Smooth sailing Virginia, good bye.

Just Rambling

It's Friday morning and I'm sitting in my favorite coffee shop and enjoying my first cup of coffee of the day. It's time to come up with a blog entry. Because I call this "Tom's Rambling" I rarely plan ahead. Here is what I wrote this morning. so far I haven't taken my laptop to the coffee shop to write directly in the blog.

This week I read a note on one of my military sites that the remains of more of our Vietnam War missing have been found, identified and returned home. As a veterans and a member of the American Legion, I'm proud that we're still searching, still recovering and still honoring our "Missing In Action". Hopefully a lot more of their families will experience closure as the Department of Defense continues to search the battle fields.

This week I got word that one of the young men, a World War II veteran, from my youth had passed away. Leland had been a role model growing up in a small town in the foothill of the Cascade mountains in Western Oregon.

I continue to be amazed at the ability of Facebook to pull people together. I'm now friends with several of my high school classmates and some of my shipmates from my Navy days. There are even a handful of childhood friends from Lyons, that small down in the foothills. My hometown even has a fan page.

Well those are my random thoughts for today. Now I can enjoy the beautiful weather while it's here. Forecast calls for showers midweek.

Aimee or Ashlee?

I have been taking pictures since my parents (or maybe it was my sister Dot) gave me my first camera. A photography class in high school really got me going. I learned to develop my own film (black and white) and print my pictures. During my junior year at Stayton Union High School I had several classes in the Industrial Arts building and I could finish the whole process in one day. It was exciting and at one point I even considered becoming a professional photographer.

The above picture was in a box of photographs I found amount the stuff I had moved from storage unit to storage unit. I scanned the picture and posted it on Facebook. I know she is one of my twins. It's either Aimee or Ashlee, but I have no idea. The comments were wonderful. Their brother had no idea and finally their comments showed up. Aimee said it was Ashlee because she always hogged the cat, Tigger. Ashlee said the same thing about Aimee. It is still a mystery.

Our memories fad but I have thousands of prints (even some of the negative) and a large tote full of slides. They are all pre-digital. There are thousands of digital pictures on cd's and on my external hard drive, which has room for thousands more. Thanks to Facebook I have been able to display some of my favorite pictures. A scanner let's me turn the prints into digital images. Facebook lets me share them with family and friends.

I also use them on the greeting cards I send out.