Travalon's Mother's Obituary

 

As promised, here is the obituary for Travalon's mom written by the man himself:

My mother was born in Milwaukee in 1926, although her parents came from Croatia, a small city called Ludbreg. She grew up poor as an only child and learned a lot of good values. She married an immigrant from a nearby village near Ludbreg called Somozcygil in Hungary. After giving birth to my three older brothers, she had me in 1965 at age 40. She already was battling arthritis and I was premature, with a good chance of dying at birth. She hung in there and did everything she could to keep me alive. I had LD problems in my youth but she was very patient and did a lot to keep me on track for a normal childhood - taking me to swimming, skating, karate, and piano lessons along with an academic learning center for tutoring to help keep my grades respectable. My favorite story of my childhood she told often was when I was 3 years old at Mount Rushmore. There was a chipmunk hanging around outside the gift shop which I thought was a church because of its structure, and I asked it, “Are you going to church too?" I also have fond memories of a shark hand puppet she knitted for me in 1976 when the movie Jaws came out. I was kinda lazy as a teenager, my mom along with my dad tolerated that to an extent (my all-day Saturday TV watching marathons from Bugs Bunny to Saturday Night Live - of course I had to let her watch Lawrence Welk) but also taught me good work habits, in a constructive (not critical) way and that paid off for me in time. Mom supported me strongly during my struggles in high school both socially and academically (there was a day I just needed to stay home my senior year and she let me instead of insisting I go to school) and because of that I made it through and also made it though several years of college. She would always listen to me vent about any problems. She was also there for me throughout all the ups and downs of my adult years. After my dad passed I spent a lot of time with mom, taking her out for rides, and even driving her down to Florida three times. We enjoyed singing Disney songs while driving past Orlando. My efforts to help her were greatly appreciated, and she kindly let me have her Lexus (named Pasquinel). My mom got along well with Famous Hat (whom I met online thanks to my mom’s suggestion), and they had a lot of laughs together during our visits. Her ability to go for rides diminished in her later years along with her memory, but she was still a joy to visit. She was always cheerful and pleasant, even when cooped up in her little room. The staff at her facility enjoyed waiting on her because she was never bossy, crabby, or demanding as many elderly in retirement homes can be. She was a great Scrabble player and would beat me and others she played often. Her health suddenly quickly declined, but she did get to see and hold her newborn grandson while her mind was still functioning! I am sad that she is now gone but comforted by the fact that she is now with my dad watching over me. I am also happy as it’s in my mind to carry on her positive attitude and thinking. She will live on in my heart forever!! I was very fortunate to have such a kind, loving, and caring mom for most of my life!

Famous Hat again. Today I worked on campus, and I asked two colleagues to walk, but neither one could, so I went by myself. My phone rang, and I saw it was Tiffy, so I instinctively knew it must be bad news about her mom. I was right; her mother had passed away suddenly this morning of a heart attack as Tiffy's aunt was driving her to the hospital because she wasn't feeling well. 

That is a lot of death, so here is something a little lighter. I had told Travalon that I would like a green dragon in his mother's room to remember her by, but his brothers had already donated all the stuffies to the bingo prize bin. Travalon asked someone at the retirement center if there was a green dragon in the bingo prize bin, and they gave him this small green pterodactyl. I'm thinking we should call him Pterry, pronounced "Terry."

Also, Travalon got a package in the mail today that was a box about the size to hold a mug. He thought it was a glass he had ordered, but when he opened it, inside there was this tiny button.

It's an MGM button from the 1930's. It's about the size of a nickel. When he saw it, he laughed because it was so tiny for the size of the box, and he thought when he'd ordered it online that it would be the size of a button you'd get today, like about the size of those giant Eisenhower dollars.

Some exciting news: Ma Hat has finished my cuddly rosary made with the yarn that allegedly glows under blacklight! She sent a couple of photos.

Once I get it, I'll take a photo of it under the blacklight. I can't wait!

Famous Hat