A Tribute to My Mother
LORAIN FISHER SCHMID 1924-2011
On Wednesday, April 20, I got a call from my brother. “Mom died.” I was having breakfast at a restaurant, catching up with friends after being on the road for two weeks. I try not to answer my phone when I’m in a “meeting” but my brother seldom calls at that time of the morning, so I answered. When I hung up, I nodded numbly to my friends, stood up in a daze, paid my bill, stumbled out the door and drove home. I called Lydia on the way.
I was in Wooster on Monday, April 11th, just before the second leg of my two week trip, so I stopped in to see Mom She was sitting in her chair with her oxygen and a new bandage on her leg from a wound that had festered. She was feeling good. She and Dad were going out to eat that night, like they did most nights the last few years. She always carried her little oxygen bottle, and now she had to deal with a tube in her leg that drained the wound. But she ran around like nothing was wrong. I told her that Lydia and I would come in to go eat with them when I get back, like we did every week or so.
I got home on Monday the 18th and got ready for a 10 AM meeting the next day and our annual Hartville Spring banquet that evening (Tues). I had prison services scheduled Wed. and Thur. night, so I had decided in my mind that we would go eat with Mom & Dad on Good Friday. Brother Tim’s call came Wed. morning.
It’s amazing how short 84 years can be! I remember when Mom worked at the Moreland General Store and she told a customer, our neighbor, Dan Weaver, that she was 29 years old. He said, “Me, too.” I was 6 years old. I thought, “29! Wow! One foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel!” OK, maybe I didn’t think that exact phrase, but I couldn’t fathom so many years. Now, more than 50 years later, it seems like she left us too soon.
Mom was two years old when her dad died. Grandma remarried a man who did not love his step children. On Mom’s 18th birthday she was told that she’s an adult now, so get out! My Grandpa loved me. I had no idea how he treated my mother until years later. Mom married my dad and moved to his home area of Wayne County in 1945. She made sure that our home was different from hers. She constantly told us that she loved us. Right in front of our friends! And leave home at 18?! They didn’t get rid of me until I was 24! Even though I thought our home was imperfect (it was) at the time, I realize now that us three boys grew up in an ideal setting. They could have filmed the TV show, “Leave it to Beaver” at our house, except we didn’t live in town.
So, this letter is a tribute to my Mom. She was my biggest fan (even though brother Steve was her favorite). Sat on the front row of my concerts. Told everyone that she taught me everything I knew (partly true, greatly exaggerated). She loved my wife and the grandchildren. Married to Dad for 65+ years. A Wooster Hospital Auxiliary Volunteer for 39 years! She received the Wayne County Senior Citizen Hall of Fame Award in 2001 for volunteer service…
I had both of my parents for 62 years. Sixty years more than either my Mom Dad did! (Both of my parents were 2 years old when their fathers died!) I thank the Lord for such wonderful parents. For an old fashioned “normal” family. For a godly mother. I am blessed.
