Obit

My eldest brother sent our mother's obit, and it's what you'd expect. A whitewash, clunky, inaccurate, full of dates, previous deaths and survivors. Dates and names history, the kind my mother hated, preferring funny stories. But the sort historians and genealogists will eventually love. Brother's casual misogyny shows at the edges.

Mary was born on (date redacted) 1925 in Windsor Ontario Canada to the late Frank (Francis) and Alice(she preferred Mary Alice, but her daughters thought this an affectation) K-, (nee M-). She was the youngest of eightª, five brothers and three sisters. Mary graduated high school in 1942 and worked until she married R- S- in 1949. They later moved(across the river) to Detroit, Michigan where she lived a content(contented?, hardly, but) life until R-’s passing in 2008. In 2009 Mary moved to (Texas town redacted) to be closer to her son* and daughter-in-law, David and J-. Mary was an exceptional homemaker†. She enjoyed reading, working cross-wordÓ puzzles, playing games, especially cards, and baking∏. She will be remembered for her contagious laugh, and her love for her family.

Along with her parents and her husband, Mary was also preceded in death by her siblings; and her granddaughter, H-.
She is survived by her sons, David S- and wife J-, W- S-; her daughter, J- W-(misspelled); her granddaughter, K- F-; three great-grandchildren, A-, E-, and S-; and numerous nieces, nephews, family and friends.

-In italics, edited for privacy and my editorializing.
ª Nine, three died in infancy, the eldest son drowned as a teenager, three sisters and two brothers survived into adulthood.
*Only remaining family, not including me for obvious reasons.
†She kept a clean house, but took no joy from that, hated the work.
Ó Of the TV Guide variety, at least when I lived in her house. Maybe she got into the better ones.
∏ She always apologized for how bad her baking looked. She used margarine and walnuts, and mixes. I do not bake.

So I added this, still positive, leaving out all the hurts. Focusing on her, though.

She was a devout and faithful Catholic, a voracious reader with a soft spot for real stories of adventures on the high seas or Great Lakes, a mean euchre, pinochle and 500 player, and an excellent driver who relished going just a smidge over the speed limit. She was a good neighbor, always willing to do a little extra shopping or shovel an extra stretch of snow off the sidewalk. She once took a sledge hammer to a troublesome wall in her house that her husband wasn't getting done, but had to deal with once he got home. And at least one winter, when a broken water main left foot thick ice in her parking spot, and she being only 4'11' (&3/4") got out a pick axe and chopped it into submission.

She told it with a bit of pride that she hated school, and when she got a job not long before graduation, she simply quit. She worked as a seamstress sewing trusses. She would sew most of her own clothes, and many for her family.

Born Canadian, she only took on US citizenship for legal reasons, and stayed Canadian in her heart. She loved National Parks, the sweeping vistas of the Badlands and mountains, any boat or train she could get on. She took photos with her Brownie camera, and had an excellent eye for composition.

I left off this line.

She was devoted and dutiful to her mother and sisters. She forgot anything unpleasant.

It seemed a bit too much to the point. I begin to forgive.