A Tribute to My Mother
Lois Elaine Alvord Adams
March 10, 1930 - December 4, 2009
 

My mother desired to have her ashes spread out over Lake St. Clair when she died along with my
dad's ashes. They ended up dying 9.5 weeks apart from each other.  Here they are together below:


"Remember When"
listen to the song by Alan Jackson about my mom and dad


Marriage April 8, 1950
Morris and Lois Adams, age 20 and 23; 59 Years Together
My mother is wearing the wedding gown that she and her mother made
 


My mother as Miss Jackson, Michigan in 1949
She was also made the city's  Safety Queen that year, but her double crown was really for her personality
which everyone loved.  Her real beauty was on the inside, and she tried to teach us the importance of this.
(see the poem below by Audrey Hepburn, "Beauty Tips").
 


 
 

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Mom in Parade as Miss Jackson, MI

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Lois as Lead Role in Play
Drama Club, Jackson Community College

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My mother was the Valedictorian of her High School Class of 1947
Here are her notes on the speech she gave to her class
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My mother played the accordion starting from a very young age.
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She also played the piano and organ and won numerous awards selling keyboards after we children were grown.
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Mom at her mother's home by her mom's keyboard in 1985

Mom at work at Keyboard World in the 1980's

She was a national award winner many years, winning trips to Hawaii, music
equipment, keyboards, etc. She won so many awards, we all lost track counting them.
 


Mom loved to play with her grand kids.
Here she is with Chris in 1993
 
 


Lois, Age 11 with Buster
Mom loved dogs and grew up always having one.
Her mother raised English Bull Terriers and Boxers

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mom at 2 months

mom, age 4; pictured on same horse as dad

mom at 1 year with her cousin Marllyn

 
 

Lois, age 6 with Dress Grandma Sewed

Lois Age 10 with First Bike and dog, Buster


Mom, her brother Jack with their Mom and Dad and Relatives at their Home In Manchester, MI
 


mom, age 12

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Lois and her brother Jack Alvord; 1944-45
 


The Alvord Family
Grandma Gin, Grandpa Roy, Jack, and Lois
 


Alvords and Adams' - Fraser, MI
Bill, Duchess, Mike, Suz, Gin, Jack, Mary, Lois, Shan, Cheryl
 
 


Mom at age 18

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One More Day
(Diamond Rio)

  Last night I had a crazy dream
 A wish was granted just for me
It could be for anything
 I didn't ask for money
 Or a mansion in Malibu
 I simply wished for one more day with you

 One more day
 One more time
  One more sunset maybe I'd be satisfied
 But then again
I know what it would do
 Leave me wishin' still for one more day with you
 One more day

     First thing I'd do is pray for time to crawl
 I'd unplug the telephone
Keep the TV off
I'd hold you every second
  Say a million I love yous
 That's what I'd do with one more day with you

listen to the song
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Mom at age 15 in the dress she and her mother made
My mom and her mother were awesome seemstresses, making all of their clothes.
Mom made all of us three girl's clothes too for many years and even our barbie doll clothes.



My mom and I at her home in 2007
She had the sweetest temperament on earth

My mom with her Mother, Virginia in 1974

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 "With the Roses"
My mother with my dog, Duchess in 1974.

Story of "With the Roses"

         This painting was inspired by the memories of my mother  and my dog, Duchess, the greatest friend of my childhood.  Duchess pulled me on my bike in the summertime and down the creek on my skates in the winter.   When I was older and very busy with school and work,  it was my mother who then cared for her and gave her the attention I could no longer provide. My mother loved to work in her rose garden, trimming and nurturing each precious rose.  Duchess would follow her from bush to bush and both were comforted from the loss of children busy doing other things. 


Mom, age 75 (2005)
..

Still Beautiful in My Eyes
        When my mother entered the hospital and finally got settled in, she asked if I'd bring in her little make-up bag and cold cream.  I said sure, even though I never knew her to wear hardly a stitch of make-up, just a little lipstick.  During the days that followed, she would try to maintain her normal appearance with a little lip stick and cream on her face. However, as she degressed from lack of sleep, food, and testing, she became exhausted and thought her appearance must be atrocious.  I would look at her face and into her eyes and still see so much beauty, and I would tell her she still looked beautiful in my eyes.  Her beauty was always in her heart and soul.   I hardly ever heard my mother say a bad word about anybody, and she had the temperment of a saint. 
          When she was rushed to another hospital and put into their cardiac intensive care unit, once settled, she said the same thing, "Suzie, did you bring my little make-up bag and cold cream?" I said, "yes, mom," but I once again told her she still looked beautiful in my eyes. 
         After she died a few days later, all the lines on her face (and there werer never many) were completely errased, and she looked more beautiful than ever.    Later that day, I remembered the song below and chose it to play at her funeral.

 
“You Will Always Be Beautiful in My Eyes”
(by Joshua Kadison)

You're my piece of mind,
in this crazy world.
You're everything I've tried to find,
your love is a pearl.

You're my Mona Lisa, you're my rainbow skies,
and my only prayer, is that you realize,
you'll always be beautiful, in my eyes.

The world will turn,
and the seasons will change.
And all the lessons we will learn,
will be beautiful and strange.

We'll have our fill of tears, our share of sighs.
My only prayer is that you realize.
You'll always be beautiful, in my eyes.

You will always be beautiful in my eyes.
And the passing years will show
that you will always grow
ever more beautiful in my eyes.

And there are lines upon my face,
from a lifetime of smiles.
But when the time comes to embrace
for one long last while.

We can laugh about it, how time really flies.
We won't say goodbye, 'cause true-love never dies.
You'll always be beautiful, in my eyes.

 Hear this song on YouTube

 


My Mother was and is my Angel, My Guiding Light in this World
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My Mother's Full Moon Night
       The night my mother died, I laid in bed thinking of  how much I loved and missed her, and then noticed a warm light coming into my bedroom window.  I got up and looked out to see a beautiful full moon.  The warm energy coming down from it was a comfort to me and made me think it was her way of saying she was OK.   At the end of the same month, on December 31st, 2009, there was a second full moon, one that brought in the New Year.  It was called a "Blue Moon"  because it was so rare.   During the month of March, 2010, there wasl again two full moons. One  appeared on March 1st and the second on March 30th, which happened to be my father 's birthday.  This second full moon was called a "Blue Moon" just like the one that occurred at the end of December, bringing in the New Year.  This rare Blue Moon on my father's birthday will  always be remembered as a powerful and lasting sign of reassurance that my mother has joined my father in their life together in eternity.  My only wish is that I would have had more time with them when they needed me the most. 

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The Story of the Falling Star
       One night, shortly after my mother died,  I became concerned because  water started pouring out of a pipe outside the screened in area of her pool.  That morning I had added a little water to it with the hose after I noticed some had evaporated.  I had just moved from MI to help my mom after my dad died, and she had only shown me one time how to add water to the pool when it reached a certain level.    A friend was coming over, and so when he got to the house, I asked him if he  knew what the pipe with the water coming out might be, but he didn't know.   I decided to double check to see if I had accidentally left the  faucet running by the side of the house, but  I found I hadn't.  I then looked up into the dark, starry eastern sky, observing the constellations  and remembering the full moon that appeared in this very same location the night she died, and cried out, "Oh Mom, send me a sign to let me know you are in heaven with dad, and that I will be OK without you!"  Then to my utter amazement, and before I could even finish this sentence,  a bright yellow swirling ball of light suddenly formed  in the sky right before my eyes, and then soared across the sky, diminishing into a tiny dot in space.   I exclaimed, "Wow! A falling star!   My friend who was right there beside me, witnessed it as well.  We were both astonished!  I had asked my mom to send me a sign at that very moment, and it was undeniable that she did! Now I know she is OK and alive somewhere in a better place,  and  that she will be watching over me as I try to live without her on this planet.  I didn't worry about the water anymore and believed it was just an overflow pipe designated for the pool.  -Suzanne 

 

One year in 2004, I made a CD of songs especially for both my mom and dad for their birthdays.
I called it, "Remember When" from the song by Alan Jackson, and I started the CD out with that song too.


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The last one on the CD was this song below.
I promised I'd be there for her (and my dad) when she called for me, no matter what.


"Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)"
(Celine Dion)

Mamma
You gave life to me
Turned a baby into a lady

Mamma
All you had to offer
Was the promise of a lifetime of love

Now I know
There is no other
Love like a mother's love for her child

And I know
A love so complete
Someday must leave
Must say goodbye

Goodbye's the saddest word I'll ever hear
Goodbye's the last time I will hold you near
Someday you'll say that word and I will cry
It'll break my heart to hear you say goodbye

Mamma
You gave love to me
Turned a young one into a woman

Mamma
All I ever needed
Was a guarantee of you loving me

'Cause I know
There is no other
Love like a mother's love for her child

And it hurts so
That something so strong
Someday will be gone, must say goodbye

Goodbye's the saddest word I'll ever hear
Goodbye's the last time I will hold you near
Someday you'll say that word and I will cry
It'll break my heart to hear you say goodbye

But the love you gave me will always live
You'll always be there every time I call
You offered me the greatest love of all
You take my weakness and you make me strong
And I will always love you 'til forever comes

And when you need me
I'll be there for you all the way
I'll be there all life through
I'll be there this I guarantee

Mamma, I'll be
I'll be there through the darkest nights
I'll be the wings that guide your broken flight
I'll be your shelter through the raging storm
And I will love you 'till forever comes

Goodbye's the saddest word I'll ever hear
Goodbye's the last time I will hold you near
Someday you'll say that word and I will cry
It'll break my heart to hear you say goodbye

'Till we meet again...
Until then...
Goodbye
 

Listen to this Precious Song on YouTube
see also my poems about moms page

 
 
"Origin of Woman"
(Hebrew Talmud)

Be very careful if you make a women cry
because God counts her tears
The woman came out of man's rib,
Not from his feet to be walked upon,
Not from his head to be superior,
but from his side to be equal.
Under the arm to be protected
 and next to the heart to be loved. 

 

 Beauty Tips
(by Audrey Hepburn)
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For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.. 
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. 
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. 
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.. 
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, 
revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
 Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, 
you will find one at the end of each of your arms. 
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; 
one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others. 
                                                             -Audrey Hepburn (read at her funeral years later)

 

Blessed Be Your Name
(listen to the song on youtube)
When the darkness closes in, Lord
When I'm found in the desert place
On the road marked with suffering
Though I walk through the wilderness
Still I will say, blessed be your name
You give and take away
You give and take away
But my heart will choose to stay


See Next
A Tribute to My Father
Morris Eugene Adams
March 30, 1927-September 21, 2009


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