On January 30

1916, my mother, Charlet Hall Anderson, was born in a home right in the middle of the Bingham Copper Mine.  My Grandfather, Edward Owen Hall, was a Foreman there, and they lived in a little company home built for the workers.  Here is a picture of Bingham Canyon, circa 1916, the year Mom was born.   Mom told stories of how they would get a warning bell that there was going to be some blasting, and everyone would take cover.  She wasn't very old when her family moved to Springville.   

When mom died 18 months after Dad, it felt like all the wind had gone out of us. When Dad died, we felt such loss, but we also felt the responsibility of making sure Mom was Ok. But after Mom died we just felt lost.  I can so clearly see us sitting at Mom and dad's kitchen table deciding what to put on the front of her funeral program.  We mentioned some scriptures or poems, but none of them seemed right for Mom.  

Some time after Dad had died, I had read an article where the writer said she had been at a funeral where a son got up to speak about his father, but was so overcome with emotion, that all he could say was "He loved us."  When I mentioned that article to the family and said how touched I had been by it, everyone piped in almost simultaneously, "that's Mom."  Let's put "She Loved Us" on the the front cover.  Mom was not a scriptural or flowery person, but one thing we all knew was that "She Loved Us."  That could have been Mom's banner.   I planned to scan in the funeral program, but it's way too late.  I'll do it tomorrow.

I miss Mom.  I miss her laugh and her interest in all things family, particularly her grandchildren.  I can often picture how Mom would react to my grandchildren,  I know she would "get a kick" out of some of the things they do.   Who knows, she's probably getting a few "kicks out of them" even though she's not here. 

She would be so happy that we have stayed close as a family and continue to get together and enjoy every-one's company.  And, I have no doubt she would have come back to haunt us if we every had any problems with the splitting up and dividing of the estate.  She warned us that there better not be any problems or we would be in trouble.  I don't know if that is why everyone bent over backwards to be fair and thoughtful, but I've never felt as much love and respect for my family as I did at that time.   I feel very blessed.

Happy Birthday, Mom.