"My mother, Lottie Gay Skidmore--how can I describe her? She was short--5 feet 3 inches tall--and stout. Her hair was long, dark and lustrous, parted in the center and twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were a pale blue-gray. From birth she had dark red hair that had turned brunette when she was about 21. (My son, Michael, inherited dark red hair that turned brunette in his early adulthood.)
Mother had planned to be a teacher, but instead married my father. I don't think she ever regretted losing her career. She had a wonderful smile--and was the best listener I have ever known. She attracted friends like a magnet, probably because she listened so well. Our home as I grew up was busy with friends and young people who loved my mother. Many an evening she told ghost stories from Braxton County while we all sat around the fireplace and ate popcorn (the corn was popped in the fireplace in a popper made by my father) and winter apples Pop stored in a bin in the basement.
We didn't have much in material wealth, but my mother always was willing to share what she could. I remember a Thanksgiving day when a homeless man knocked on the door and was given the very first plateful of food to eat on the porch. Religion was a way of life for her every day, not just on Sunday
She loved young people and their exhuberant ways and was Sunday School superintendent at the Salvation Army. She loved music and constantly sang--although she couldn't carry a tune."
"My mother, Lottie Gay Skidmore--how can I describe her? She was short--5 feet 3 inches tall--and stout. Her hair was long, dark and lustrous, parted in the center and twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were a pale blue-gray. From birth she had dark red hair that had turned brunette when she was about 21. (My son, Michael, inherited dark red hair that turned brunette in his early adulthood.)
Mother had planned to be a teacher, but instead married my father. I don't think she ever regretted losing her career. She had a wonderful smile--and was the best listener I have ever known. She attracted friends like a magnet, probably because she listened so well. Our home as I grew up was busy with friends and young people who loved my mother. Many an evening she told ghost stories from Braxton County while we all sat around the fireplace and ate popcorn (the corn was popped in the fireplace in a popper made by my father) and winter apples Pop stored in a bin in the basement.
We didn't have much in material wealth, but my mother always was willing to share what she could. I remember a Thanksgiving day when a homeless man knocked on the door and was given the very first plateful of food to eat on the porch. Religion was a way of life for her every day, not just on Sunday
She loved young people and their exhuberant ways and was Sunday School superintendent at the Salvation Army. She loved music and constantly sang--although she couldn't carry a tune."
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