Today was my mother's birthday. And, since she was born in 1910, it seems fitting to honor her during Women's History Month since she lived through some exciting and restrictive times. Looking back, I think she would have been an excellent minister but that was not an option. When she was young she wanted to be a nurse, but her mother (a pastor's wife) insisted she become a teacher. It was a respectable profession, nursing was not. She earned her bachelors degree and taught first in a one-room school house, then 5th grade in a large city school. She was off and on for years a truly great teacher but when I said I wanted to be a teacher she tried to talk me out of it. She said it was the hardest job. For ten years she taught and worked at a variety of other jobs including being a buyer for a department store and a beautician. One memorable summer she chauffeured a professor and his wife all around the west, leaving from Pennsylvania. One of their first stops was the Chicago World's Fair. As I grew up I heard many stories of the places they visited including Yellowstone, Carlsbad Cavern and the Grand Canyon. I have since visited all the sites she ever talked about. No doubt she planted my love of travel. In 1942 she was accepted into the nursing school at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. She still longed to be a nurse. But fate intervened again. During her first year at Johns Hopkins she met my father, an Army Master Sargeant stationed at nearby Aberdeen Proving Grounds. They fell in love and were married in May of 1943. Sadly, that was the end of her dream of nursing. Married women were not allowed to be nurses at that time. There's much more to the story but that's enough to give you a glimpse of my remarkable mother.
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