Mom – Learn To Be Wise

November 20^th, my Mom, Dorothy I. Jones, went to be with her Savior. She had turned 90 in August. Though she had been declining for months as a consequence of slow congestive heart failure, the end happened quite suddenly and unexpectedly. I’ve been working on this Thanksgiving tribute to Mom for a couple days. Also, here’s a link to her obituary.

Obituary for Dorothy I. Jones

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I’m thankful for our phone conversations

When I think of my Mom, one of the first blessings that comes to mind is our phone conversations. The chain of them began when I was a freshman at the University of Rochester. Late at night I would sit at the hallway telephone and talk to Mom. Our conversations have never been short and that habit goes back to that year too. Recent years I would get on my cell phone while sitting in my big chair and converse. It was not unusual to be an hour on the phone. We covered a lot of subjects; family news, farm news, church news and upcoming schedules. But Mom also talked about Bible verses she was studying or teaching from, articles or books she had read, things from gardening in the summer and feeding birds in the winter, and even news items of note—she loved Paul Harvey especially. I will miss those conversations.

I’m thankful for her prayers

Another great blessing from my Mom was her prayer life.

Celebration for Mom’s 90th

Last Christmastime, my sister MarySue set this past Saturday, July 7, as the date we as an extended family would get together to celebrate Mom’s 90^th birthday. Even though Mom’s actual birthday is not until August 19, MarySue knew that 4^th of July is a good time to get the family together. But there was no way she could know how providential the timing would be. Mom’s health and sharpness are declining as she suffers from advanced heart disease, but right now, even though she was weak, on oxygen and confined to a wheelchair, she was still able to enjoy her birthday dinner and recognize and talk with nearly everyone. Previously she would have known each great grandchild—she told me this time Sammie is number 18—along with their age and sizes—now she remembered the names of about as many as I did. As soon as she saw my brother Allen and I both in the house she exclaimed, “Get the cameras!” So we did. Al lives in Fairbanks, Alaska and we haven’t seen him in a couple years. Several have better cameras than I but I also took pictures anyway so I could put a few on my blog. Since thunderstorms were to pass through, we held the picnic in the new garage that Don and MarySue have constructed not far from the house. As usual, we sang for Mom too, one hymn before the blessing and one hymn after the meal. There was lots of muscle present to wheel/carry Mom as needed from the house to the garage for the meal and back.

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