My ninety-one-year-old mother had nine
children and those children had twenty-four children and their children have
had thirty-three children and a few of those children had five more giving us a
total of seventy-one, that’s 71,
direct descendants of Rose Christine Hubbard. That’s quite a legacy.
Mind
you, she didn’t do it all alone because Dad factored into the equation, too.
For a couple who were only going to have two children they kind of overshot
their target a bit. I was number eight out of the nine so I am extremely glad
that they did!
On
top of her own immediate family members Mom was always very close to her large
extended family. Her sisters and brothers and their children and their children
and their children…
Mom and Dad were
also Foster Parents having had three foster children as well as her own until
Mom found it too hard when the little ones were adopted out and had to leave
her nest. My parents’ home was always open to anyone and it was not unusual to
find one, two or three friends of their children sleeping somewhere in the
house when they were having trouble in their own homes or just needed sanctuary
until they could safely get home. Or sometimes they’d only come over to the
house for one of Mom’s famous cinnamon buns and end up staying for days. Mom
and Dad also mentored children through the church in youth groups, summer camps
and Confirmation classes.
Many
of the regular readers of this column will be very familiar with my Mom as she
has many relatives in the area and had lived in the Kipling/ Bender/ Inchkeith
area as a little girl and returned to those Hungarian roots in 1970 after Dad
accepted the job as the United Church Minister for the Kipling/Windthorst
Pastoral Charge. They lived in Kipling for the entire decade of the 1970’s before
moving back to Alberta
Mom
has always been a fantastic cook and put those skills to work as her talent and
passion for cooking became her vocation, as well, while she was a member of the
kitchen staff at the Kipling Memorial Union Hospital during her time here in
Kipling. Mom also cooked for several summers at Camp
McKay at Round
Lake while Dad was the Camp Director
Her
recipes and cooking abilities have been passed on to her children and their
children and while they might not be quite able to meet her lofty standards it
is another legacy that Mom can be so very proud of.
Our
entire large family has been fortunate and blessed to have had Mom around into
her nineties. Her mind is still as sharp as a tack and her sense of humour
still keen but her outstanding memory is the thing that sets her apart from all
others her age. She is the family historian and has written several stories
about her long life and the many lives she’s affected along the way. Whenever
we need to remember an event or a date or who was even in attendance at
something way back when we can just phone up Mom and get all the details that
we need.
Mom’s
health has always been very good for “a woman her age” but recently she’s been
showing her years. I had a conversation with our youngest daughter Emily about
Mom’s deteriorating health and Em said, “I know she can’t live forever but I
really thought that she’d be the one to beat the system.” I wish.
I
know this is a very public forum for such an intimately private matter but it
is also a convenient way for me to let so many people who care about Mom know
that she is comfortable and surrounded by loved ones but time marches on and as
much as we wish it to be she will be not be able to “beat the system.”
“A Mother’s heart is always with her
children.”-Proverb.
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