Sally May

The year I was born my fathers parents divorced.

That was not unheard of in those days, but not common either. By the time I was born I am pretty sure both of them had left l Idaho, though I do not remember exactly (imagine that).

About half a year after I was born my cousin Judy came along. Sally May seems to have been there or arrived soon after her birth.

Any way, when Judy was getting old enough to say her first words, Sally May wanted to be called “Gram.”

Judy had trouble with that and the best she could do was “Dam.”

Grandma did not think that was appropriate, so after a bit of consideration, she asked to be called: Mother May. So, for the rest of her long life, that is what everyone called her.

Friends, family, pastors -- we all knew her as Mother May.

She worked as a nurse for many years. At that time, nursing was not the noble profession it is today, but was not thought well of at all. At one point many states offered to take nurses with a certain amount of experience and give them an RN degree.

Mother May desperately wanted to do that, but the last state that would do it was a state or two away, and (this was before the divorce) Grandpa would not help her solve the problem, so she was always an aid, and never a nurse. I know there is a story there too, but I do not know it.

I remember her as being jolly and happy, though she had her share of griefs, I know. More on that later.