Dorothy Hanson Brewer

I found an adorable frame at the local drugstore last week while picking up my blood pressure pills. This time of year I'm a sucker for anything that says, "Spring". I decided to use it for reframing a photograph of Lenny and I with with his mother on our wedding day. While I was moving the photo from one frame to another, I got to thinking about her. I didn't know her very well, but I can say that in her life, love was a verb; an action word. By her actions she taught that way of life to her children. Shortly after Lenny and I met in 1997 he invited me to his apartment for dinner. He had made baked pork chops, boiled potatoes and green beans. After we were done eating he announced that we were bringing the left-overs to his mother. I had yet to meet her. She looked at me warily when he introduced me. I think there had been a few other women and she had good reasons to be skeptical! What I witnessed that evening was a man in love with his mother. And she was clearly smitten with him. I later found out she felt that way about all of her children, and they about her. She was a woman who worked hard all her life. She was a laborer at a boat manufacturing factory and after that, worked on an assembly line at a classic car fabrication plant. She worked beside men who had trouble keeping up to her! She was tough as bricks on the outside and soft as a lamb on the inside. Her husband, Lenny's father, had a heart condition and was unable to work much. When he had a stroke and had to be cared for in a nursing home she sat by his side coaxing him to eat and carry on. She had other times of worry and sorrow in her life. Her oldest son served in the Marine Corps in Viet Nam. A three year old daughter died from pneumonia. But she had more times of great joy, all family related. I don't think I was ever at her home when there weren't three or four other family members visiting. Her house was like Grand Central Station, the family meeting place. Grandchildren stopped to visit on their lunch breaks, adult children on their way home. It was a tiny one story house with no basement. Four children were raised with 2 bedrooms and one bathroom! She was proud of all her children, but I chuckle when I remember how 
pleased she was when Lenny landed a "desk job" with Wyoming OSHA. His second grade teacher had told her he would never do more than dig ditches! Unfortunately her last years were tragic. Due to the devastating effects of dementia she had to be moved from her beloved home. Her family continued to visit her daily even when she sometimes forgot who they were. When I think of her now it's mostly to be thankful for what she left my husband; strength, tenacity, pride, kindness, and unconditional love.