In memory of Memere/Dorothy

Dorothy Jean....May 6, 1937-December 26, 2008

The day after Christmas, Dorothy Jean went home.

She was always singing, even when she was barely audible, she continued to try.

She loved music and in her last days requested Christmas songs to be sung to in her hospital bed.

Memere and I had a crazy relationship. She was always trying to fix things and I was never up for being fixed. In the past 4 years while stationed in California, we began to understand each other.

I thought she was a very busy and caring person. In fact I thought she was too caring. She always followed the lives of every person she ever met. She even attended funerals of people she barely knew because she thought someone should be there. She was never easy to surprise, but I was able to help pull a few off before she left.

Some of her favorite things were ice skating, singing, paper dolls and taking photos. She had so many photos that her table was buried in them one year as she tried to create scrapbooks for each child before she was gone. I am not sure if she ever finished them. I think what she truly wanted was to be remembered. She left a beautiful legacy for her family. She wanted to be sure my girls had a wonderful Christmas. She made pillowcases with Hawaiian prints for them to sleep on and the girls say they think of her every night. They call them their "Memere love pillows.

Everyone joked for years that Robert had married his mother. We are both writers, love photos and scrapbooking. We both try to be in control of everything in our worlds and can never get it.

The parallels go on and on.

One thing I know about Dorothy is that she had a huge heart and love for others. She never wanted to do the wrong thing and just wanted to be included. I saw that many times she was left behind and she hid her hurt well.

She wanted everything to always be perfectly perfect.

She was loved very much by so many people and she will be missed in this world. She was an amazing woman.

50th Wedding anniversary 2005.