I don't think she wanted them to be a reference library, a way to document dates of birth and death. They are not organized in any orderly fashion, in fact, there are lots of duplicates in the notebooks. She probably knew other family members would be into genealogy and there would be other ways to record just the facts about a person's life. I think I know why she did it because I also have notebooks filled with memorial cards and newspaper clippings of obituaries. We did it as a way to honor someone's life. A life that touched us in one way or another. Because of my Mom's work, I learned that Rich Riener's birthday is August 25 and that my Dad and Dan Kuhlmann's Mom both died in August.
Look at the smile of Jeanne Seubert and the sober face of A. George Seubert, wonderful people who touched the lives of both Mom and Dad. As I looked through these books today I thought, "there is no better way to honor a life in the memory of our minds." Page after page, I found myself saying, "aah to this person and "ooh to that one. To those who died too young, Kelly Hinkleman, Michael Joseph Wren, Keath Schmidt, Darrel Alan Enneking, Tammy and Mitchell Lorentz. There are lots of relatives, the Seuberts, the Schmidts, she even saved cards from the Wessels family. And all those friends, just other people in Cottonwood, whose funerals she attended and probably brought a salad or helped serve the meal. She remembered them all!
I'm drawn to Richard Riener's card. He married one of my best high school friends, Eloise Arnzen, right after our high school graduation in 1964. He developed cancer in 2000 and died on March 19, 2001. Eloise has been fighting inflammatory breast cancer for six years and probably will be joining him in heaven soon. The ebb and flow of life continues and I'm grateful for the memories today and all the people that Mom honored by taking the time to put their memorial card in a keepsake album.
She also saved this little treasure! I think it was her way of saying, "I love you and I'm proud of you." And now, Larry, please continue to make her proud by storing and savings her precious notebooks.
