#47 Jane, a son's thoughts and rememberings.

I intimated in a comment in bird's blog that I would come share some things about my mother, Jane. The time is here. This will be one of the most difficult postings to write.

Jane is a difficult woman to love. I attribute this to what seems to be a pattern of behaviors she developed to protect herself. Most of what I write are from stories she tells of her youth.

Mom is not an easy person to live with due to her family situation from birth. I get the impression her mother, Mary, did not really want any children. Children would interfere with her life. In spite of that, Jane was born.

They lived in a very nice home in Carlisle, PA with Mary's family. From what Mom has told me, she and her mother did not get along very well. Her father, Jack, must have adored Jane and did his best to protect her from the others in the home. It was an era where children should be seen and not heard, and not seen very often. Mary, her mother and father merely tolerated Jane's presence. Jack worked as an auditor for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and traveled all over PA as a part of his job. Consequently, Jane was left alone a considerable part of the time.

She had to learn to protect herself from an early age. Some of her adventures she credits to her being a red head. There was also a rumor at the time that the Irish had tempers and she has Irish lineage too. Whatever the reason, she opted for the view of the world that the best defense is a good offense. She will attack at the least provocation and change back again just as quickly.

As you can see from this photo taken in late 1937, she was a beautiful woman. (I own up to some bias in this matter.) You can't tell that she had recently given birth to my younger brother. We are her only children.

She married Karl, who joined the US Army got a commission and the adventuresome travels were underway. Jane has always liked the Army. Growing up near Carlisle Barracks, she believes she knows the ways of the Army. To some extent she does, but the times have changed considerably. The Army did afford her the opportunity to travel. We lived primarily in the South -- Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania and Hawaii, not necessarily in that order. She loved the travel and my brother and I learned to adapt.

After the Hawaii assignment, Jane and Karl got divorced. He had found another woman prior to our arrival. We spent almost a year at Schofield Barracks. Jane would later meet and marry John H., another Army man. He was stationed at Indiantown Gap, PA, when they met. We moved to Ft. Meade, MD with him and then on to Lancaster, PA. (At that point I joined the US Air Force and my life took a different turn. Perhaps I will relate that adventure in future postings or a totally different blog.) But enough about me.

John was assigned to Germany. Jane and my brother Keith traveled with him. I think she was happy to have had the opportunity to visit Europe, even in the midst of the Cold War. Their travels took them to Ft. Riley, KS and then to Ft. Bliss, TX.

While at Ft. Bliss they purchased a home in El Paso which she owns to this day. John passed away quite some time ago. I think he did so as a means of escape. Mom was always on his case about one thing or another. She is very set in her ways, and provides an excellent example of separate realities. She would be happy with that idea as long as the rest of the world realized hers was the one and only correct reality.

She does have a unique and weird sense of humor. She would agree with that assessment. A case in point, when we spoke on the phone today, she mentioned talking with a man who was thinking of buying a home in the neighborhood. Jane invited him into the house. (Keith was there at the time.) The man made a comment about the large size of the backyard and mom said something to the effect that she needed the space to grow marijuana. She does NOT grow any other grass than Bermuda.

She also decided she wanted our girls to call her Grandma Sam. A few years ago she thought that maybe she should be known by another name. I checked with the girls and they all said why change now? They will always know her as Grandma Sam.

Mother and Keith share her home in El Paso to this day. There is more to the story and I will have to get to that in a later posting. Perhaps I will post a more recent photo of her at that time.
#47