My Mom

Adeline Anna Schanel

March 10, 1896 - June 4, 1968

My mom would be celebrating her 115th birthday today, though she died forty-three years ago, at what I like to think a young age, seventy-two. It's funny when you have a parent die at what-ever age you kind of make a mental note of it for yourself. Until I passed that mark I often would think of my own death in terms of the years that my mom had lived.

My mother was an unusual woman for her time. She did go to college and she and her father were in business together. He was a mortician, funeral director I guess is a more common name now. Though grandpa was a fully licensed mortician and my mother assisted with hair and make-up and other funeral arrangements.

As a child I would often accompany my mom to work. During a funeral I would take a seat on the bench next to the organist and watch the proceeding through the privacy screen. When no one was around I would get to play the organ which for me was a real treat. I suppose growing up attending funerals is a strange childhood, but it was mine and no doubt part of the reason why I detest funerals to this day.

But my mother was a great business woman and dabbled in real estate as well over the years. By dabble, I mean she would buy property that became available and always had a keen sense on what was a good deal. She had no faith in the stock market and always felt with real estate even if everything failed you would still have dirt. I suppose she was right.

I was thirty when my mom died and I feel I never really got to know her adult to adult. And I know, while I learned a lot from observation, there was so much more she could have taught me about business if we had the chance. Most of my years with her was as a rebellious youth, driving her I'm afraid to an early grave.

El Monte Union High School - Junior Year 1913

Here is a photo from my mom's high school year book, this was her junior year. She is the girl sitting in the front row right below the nine.The year book made note of the fact "Though our class is the smallest in the school, it is not one to be lightly esteemed". I wonder who the character is striking the pose on the ground, with his pant legs rolled up? Wouldn't it be fun to know what he ended up doing.

A poem written by mom and included in the year book.

So as a little birthday present mom, from me to you, I included your little poem on my blog. Certainly it is an event you would have never imagined in your wildest dreams. It's funny when you look at old pictures how 'glum' everyone is in their poses, you start to get suspicious of the ones that smile.

I'm not sure of the date of this picture of my mom, I am guessing it might have been taken in her college days. I used another of the high school year books as the back drop for this photo.When I read through her year book it is funny to see so many names that cropped up many years later in my own school days. When I was in high school one of her classmates was the superintendent of my high school district and another was the band leader. Both of my older brothers went to the same high school as my mom and I would have also except for the fact they built a new high school in the district a few years before I hit high school age.

Looking back on it, I liked growing up in a rather small town, but that will be fodder for another blog. Today it's mom's birthday, so - "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM".

[All images can be enlarged for easier viewing by clicking on them.]