a devoted mother.
It's hard to say good-bye to anyone but I think especially a mother.
Milan told me that it is like he's lost the anchor to his past,
to his childhood.
Helena was the most gracious woman
I have ever known.
As a young bride I remember taking detailed notes
of all the things she did
to make us feel welcome in her home:
candy around in little dishes,
clean fresh sheets on the beds,
lovely jellos waiting in the fridge for dinner and
every picture or card we ever sent
carefully displayed
as if we were the most important people in the world to her.
As our children grew she remembered every birthday with a lovely card
and a sweet note inside written in her beautiful script.
She was a private person and a little shy, I think.
It wasn't until her daughter Diane made scrapbooks of her life
that I really got to know who she was.
She was an 'only child' and so
grew up in a world of adults,
she enjoyed being alone and spent a lot of time that way,
she played the saxophone in the marching band,
she taught preschool and forever loved little children,
she met and married a dashing young man
who took her away from home
and provided her a home of her own,
which she made beautiful,
and filled it with her grace and dignity.
She never looked her age until the end
and even then had an air of style and beauty.
So now she's gone home to Foster,
and her mother and father,
where it is quiet and beautiful
just as she was.
She is missed by her four children,
her eleven grandchildren,
and four great-grandchildren.
Her fifth great-grandchild will be born next month.
We will make sure that this little one knows about her
sweet great-grandmother too.
Thank you, Helena.
We love you.
