Category: Personal

My Mom – Margaret Helen Gibson Robinson – 1924 – 2007

My Mom died Friday morning July 27. She died at home as she wanted to. We had the services for her on Wednesday, August 2.

Even though she was ready to go it is very hard for those of us she left behind. We will all miss her so much. I can honestly say that I am who I am today because of my Mom. She gave me so much.

Here is the eulogy that I read at her funeral:

Mom was born in Vancouver British Columbia,  Canada. She grew up in Jasper, Alberta in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. She loved the mountains. Her Dad was an train engineer for the Canadian National Railroad. He drove the  steam engines that were  used to pull trains over the mountains. Mom said she always remembered being a little bit scared of the giant noisy engines. She had memories of her Mom taking Gordon and her down to the station to visit her Dad when he was working. She also remembered one time She and her mother rode the train to a remote mountain meadow where he stopped and let them out. They camped, spent the night and picked blueberries. The next day the train stopped and took them home

When Mom was 13 her Dad died suddenly. Mom and her Mother and Brother emigrated to the U.S. to Spokane Washington where my Grandma started a nursing home. Mom graduated from High School in Spokane. She went to Washington State University where  she received a bachelors degree in Nursing Education. One of her first nursing jobs was in Los Angeles where nurses were needed to help with the polio epidemic that was then going on. Mother worked at a few different nursing jobs for about a year and then
decided that nursing wasn’t for her. She enrolled at Iowa State University and received a BS in Home Economics education.

At Iowa State Mom met my Dad on a blind date in about 1947 (60 years ago!). They were married in 1950. Their first home was in Hibbing, Minnesota. Ironically in Hibbing married women were not allow to teach so although Mom  was a qualified teacher she went back to work as a nurse until I was born. Eventually Mom and Dad moved to Bismarck, North Dakota where Barbara, Betsy and Charlie were born.

In 1964 when the opportunity presented itself Mom urged Dad to apply for a position helping to build a new oil refinery in Brisbane, Australia. Dad got the job. Mom and Dad packed up the whole family and we moved. We lived in Australia for 5 years and then moved to England, then Wales and finally Zaire. In Zaire Dad was heading a project to build a new copper mine in a remote area. There were no schools for the American and European children so Mother started the school and was the superintendent as it
grew.

Mom was always an excellent shopper. She loved a bargain and always got value for money. During our time in Australia, England and Wales Mom began to collect antiques. Mom and Dad’s home is decorated with beautiful and interesting antiques that she bought on their travels. There are biscuit barrels, a bed warmer, bellows, chamber pots, writing desks, candle sticks, tea caddies and several clocks and that is just the beginning. In England Mom visited the china factories and collected all the china that the whole family uses today.

When Mom and Dad finally moved back to the US Mom again became active in PEO, started Bible study and continued knitting, sewing, doing needlepoint and smocking. Mom continued to love to travel. In the last years she has visited the Holy land, the Galapagos islands, Russia and many other places. Within North America Mom and Dad explored Alaska, Prince Edward Island where Mom’s family came from, the Canadian
Rockies where Mom grew up and the Tetons where we vacationed when we
were young. Dad says that Mom recently told him that she wished she had
even traveled more

When I think about Mom and all she did with her life, what stands out and what I am certain was her proudest accomplishment was our family. Being a mother defined her and she was the best mother ever. She encouraged us, she taught us, she led by
example and most of all she loved us.

To Mom family was everything and her faith was overarching. Her faith was the rock on
which she built her life. She was an amazing woman and I think all four of her children can say we are who we are today because of our Mom and her encouragement of us and faith in us. Although she is gone I know that she will live in our hearts and we will never forget her.

Our house is for sale

Our house is finally on the market! If you know anyone who is looking for a very nice house in the San Francisco Bay area have a look at our listing. The house is convenient to 880 and is in a very quiet gated community.

Getting the house ready was an enormous undertaking. We painted the whole house, installed new hardwood in our bonus room, put new carpet throughout the house, and moved all our stuff out. Once we were out the stagers came in. For any of you who have been to our house you won’t recognize the transformation. For one thing there is no longer a pool table in the living room!

I was able to work with Duke to do a lot of the work but he had to finish it himself starting three weeks ago when I came down to Escondido to help Dad take care of my Mom. Every day she gets a little weaker. She can’t talk now and she is having trouble swallowing. Mom still seems aware of much that is being said and of what is going on around her. We don’t know how long this will last but except for breaks when my daughters or siblings come I’ll stay until the end. I’m taking one day at a time and am just glad I can be here for her.

While I have been down here Duke got the old house on the market and has started moving us into our new house in Reno. Long phone conversations about the house and the move have given me a respite from thinking about things here. My daughters and my sisters and brother have also been wonderfully supportive. My sisters were here last week. My brother comes again next week and my daughters have plans to come too.

Update

Back in February I blogged about helping my parents move to an assisted living facility. My Dad was recovering from a broken hip and my Mom was battling parkinsonisms. Since then Dad has made a complete recovery and is getting around with a walker and sometimes even a cane. Unfortunately however, Mom is slipping. According to the doctors the cause of parkinsonisms can be difficult to diagnose if you don’t have the typical variety of the disease. At this point the diagnosis is atypical parkinsons with multiple system atrophy.

Mom and Dad agreed that while the assisted living facility was fine it was not home and they really really wanted to go home. So last week Duke and I were down in Escondido helping Mom and Dad move back home. Mom is no longer able to get out of bed although her mind is still very sharp. Dad is providing most of her care. He does have a caregiver coming in 4 hours a day to help.  While Duke and I were there we talked to the people from Hospice and learned about how they can help. It seems like a wonderful service and will allow Mom to stay home until the end which I am afraid will be soon.

Leaving was emotionally wrenching and every time the phone rings I think maybe that is it. My sister is there visiting now and my brother will be there next week. Depending on circumstances I will probably go back down after that.

We continue to work hard on getting the house ready to sell. We have a list of 69 things to do and 26 of them are done. Painting and packing are good distractions from thinking too much about Mom. Our target to have the house on the market is now June 15 but I am thinking that it may take us a week or so longer. Right now I am trying to just take things one day at a time.

Travels and Getting the House Ready to Sell

On April 17 Duke finished his first tax season working for H&R Block. Since then we shifted into high gear in our drive to get our house ready to sell so that we can move. We have lots of other stuff going on too.

One of my daughters was moving so last Saturday morning we helped her transfer a load of furniture to her new place and then we headed towards LA. Duke’s girls’ choir had a recital and one of the girls had a solo. The recital was great and the solo (her first time singing in public) was very impressive.

After the recital on Sunday night we drove to Escondido to my parent’s house. Monday morning we took Mom to have an MRI and an EEG. Mom goes back to her doctor this coming Friday. My sister Barbara and her husband will be with her for that. We are hoping to get a better diagnosis for the cause of her Parkinsonsisms.

On Wednesday we drove from Escondido to Reno. It always seems odd to me that Reno is essentially due north of San Diego. The road goes east of LA and then straight for many mile right past Edward’s Air Force base and up the East side of the Sierras. The mountains are beautiful. I climbed Mt Whitney 9 years ago so It was fun to go through Whitney Portal again.

On Thursday in Reno we had lunch with my Mom’s brother and his wife. Then we looked at a few apartments. Our plan is to get our house up for sale and then rent a place in Reno to use as a home base while we decide where we want to move for the next stage of our lives.

We looked at several places and think we will rent a house in a Del Webb Active Adult community, for people 55 or better. (Duke just turned 55 and I will turn 55 this summer). For less rent than they were asking for the apartments that we liked we can have a new house with a two car garage and use of the club house with indoor pool and walking track. I don’t think it is the kind of place we want to live in eventually but it should be perfect for the next year. It will be right around 240 miles from the old house to the new house.

The list of things we want to do before we sell the house is long. Before we left last week we painted our bonus room and now we are laying solid oak hardwood on th floor. Next we will lay porcelain tile in our laundry room and in the one bathroom that still doesn’t have it. Next we will get scaffolding and paint the walls and ceiling of the living room with the 24 foot ceiling. Those are just the first 3 big items on the list. In the next month we will also be helping Duke’s girls move and helping my parents move from the assisted living place back to their house.

June 10 is our target to have the house on the market so May is going to be a very busy month!

 

People I know were on TV!

One of the best things about working at Intuit was the Quality Assurance people that I worked with. They were all professional, hard working and smart. One of them, Anders Mortinson, showed just how smart he is last Friday when he was on Jeopardy. You may have heard that  for the first time ever Jeopardy had a three way tie on Friday. As a result there was even a story about him  in our local paper. He also got to come back to compete again on Monday. A friend told me that at Intuit on Friday they had a pizza party and over
50 people ate pizza and watched the show. Scott Cook even attended.

Last Monday  my daughter Allison was on national TV too! She and her friends were visiting New York and could be seen in the crowd outside the Today Show on NBC. They also got to shake hands with Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, and Al Roker.  Allison is the one with an octopus on her head 🙂

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