We grow good apples and good kids.

That’s what mom would tell anyone she thought should know.

School teachers, principals, local and national politicians, bosses.

When I first started working at Ward’s Natural Science, there was an open house where all the employees could bring their families for a tour.

I brought my mom and dad to show them around.  

Hank Barbeau, the President of Ward’s at the time, made some remarks, and then there were snacks.

My dad and I were eating some cookies, and I noticed mom wasn’t with us.

Scanning the room, my heart stopped when I saw mom with Hank Barbeau backed into a corner, shaking a finger and telling him something.

I was sure I would be fired.

Later, I asked mom what they had chatted about.

“I told him we grow good apples and good kids, and he better be good to you”

Perfect I thought.

But, I still had a job, and Hank remembered my name, I have mom to thank for that.

Like dad, she grew up in the great depression, unlike dad, she knew she was poor.

An Irondequoit Bay rat, mom lived in a house that is worth a lot of money today.

Back then it was the wrong side of the tracks, bottom of the hill.

People along the lake shore this year dealt with flooding from the St Lawrence Seaway water outlet.

Mom lived though when they first built the dam.  She told about her mom sitting on the cellar steps crying watching the water rise to and then above the furnace, putting out the flame.

There was no recourse for them, they were just poor people living on the water.

But they kept on and survived.

A steady diet of fish and pigeons and mash rabbits (that would be musk rats) grandpa Joe brought home, kept her and her brothers and sisters fed.

We all loved to hear the stories of her growing up on the bay.

Many were happy and funny, despite the merger means they lived in.

Most of the funny ones involved Uncle Bud and some sort of mischief or property damage.

One of the happy ones was a Christmas when she wanted a baby doll,  but got a little brother.

A nice surprise, but she already had one of those.

Many of the stories were sad.

The water is a dangerous place to live and mom always warned us about it.

She saw and heard, several people drown in the bay, and it made her very protective of all of us living by the creek and the lake.

She was a good student, a gifted artist, and a hard worker.

She worked for Wegmans when it was just one grocery store in Rochester

She worked at Seabreeze when it was a huge attraction along the lake.

On a trip to Canada with a friend, a young man, the friend’s cousin, accompanied them. 

He was a county kid, but quite handsome and a charmer, and before you knew it they were in love.

Dad made the trip from Pultneyville to Schnakel drive lots of times, sometimes racing through the curves of Lake Road in Webster.

Whenever I had a chance, I would make that drive with Dad and he would smile thinking about mom telling him to go faster.

They were married and the bay rat became a country house wife,  who dealt with a fair amount of culture shock.

The best example was the fog horn on Salmon Creek road, that turned out to be a neighbor’s cow.

They say she wasn’t much of a cook to start out, but she sure learned that skill well.

They moved from a small house on the flat between the post office and Jay street when the house flooded, eventually ending up in a house my dad build at the end of Salmon creek road.

Here they started a family, and had 3 beautiful children, a daughter and 2 sons.

Life was wonderful.

And then they had me.

And then that had another beautiful perfect daughter.

And she raised us all there.

And she fed anyone who stopped by, friends, farmers or fishermen, no one went away hungry.

She was my first Sunday school teacher, right below where we are now (Pultneyville United Methodist Church)

She taught me and hundreds of kids stories from the Bible, and would use the people and their stories to encourage us when things were not going our way.

David and Goliath was one she reminded me about a lot when I was up against a challenge.

Little guy, fights a giant with just a sling shot, when all the soldiers were afraid to, and wins.

She wanted to teach me to stand up to bullies.

Daniel in the lions den, taught us to have faith in God during tuff times.

Moses,  baby avoids death,  becomes a prince,  then leads his people,   anything can happen with God.

She made the events from the Bible so vivid; I could see myself in them.

Who wouldn’t want to be David beating Goliath, or Moses parting the Red Sea to free his people?

I most often saw myself as Joseph, popular younger brother who rubs his older brothers the wrong way so much that they fake his death and sell him.    Still have bad dreams about that one.

I could even see mom in the Bible stories.   You might think Ruth or Naomi, but I saw her as Mary.

Not the Mary of Christmas, there is no way mom would have a baby in a barn.

“Frank, you go back in there and tell him we need a room and we need it now.”

No, not that Mary, but the Mary of when Jesus got lost.

I was forever getting lost at the grocery store, and when we read the story about Jesus getting lost, that was what I imagined.

I think Mom and that Mary were probably a lot alike.

Both trying raise large families.

Both married to hard working, loving husbands.

With 5 boys and 2 girls, I’m sure things got a little crazy for Mary, just like they did for mom.

Kids fighting, having to be reminded to do their chores.

Having to make meals for all those kids and Joseph, I can see the same strain on Mary that we put on mom.

I’d imagine Mary might have yelled at her kids, maybe smacked a couple of them with a wooden spoon.

I wouldn’t be surprised if when something went really wrong in Mary’s kitchen, Mary would yell SHIT SHIT SHIT.   Mom might have done that once or twice.

Both mom and Mary were very proud of their kids,  and liked to show them off when given a chance.

Look at Mary at the Wedding at Cana,  a lovely reception until they run out of wine.

Running out of wine would be a huge embarrassment.

Mary doesn’t say anything to the host, but she says to Jesus. “they have no more wine”

Jesus has big things to think about but here’s his mom, knowing what he can do.

He basically says,  “Moooommmmmmm, not now.”

Mary doesn’t argue with him, just tells the kitchen staff, “do what ever my son tells you to do”

I can hear mom saying things like that about any of us, my child could fix that for you, just do what ever they tell you to do.

Above all,  we know how much Mary loved her children,  and we can all say that about mom too.

There was no doubt how much she loved us.

We also learn from the bible that someday, all who believe will have a new body in heaven.

I find peace in knowing that mom now has that new body.

She has new knees that don’t hurt anymore.

She has new eyes that can see clearly again.

Her mind is no longer clouded by dementia.

I find joy in knowing that she can walk and dance and hold hands with dad.

And she can see Jesus and worship with all the saints.

But there is all of eternity for that.

Right now, if we could see into heaven, we would see dad having a meal with grandma and grandpa, and maybe arguing with Uncle Chick

And  I bet we would see St Paul or Peter or Moses, or David, or maybe even Jesus himself,

backed into a corner

They are smiling and nodding, but there is a little fear in their eyes as this nice little lady shakes a new finger at them.

And I can almost hear mom say,

“We grew good kids and good apples…”

Thanks mom.