MY FATHER'S FOLDER: About Mom

Another from the archives

She Took Great Delight

The following was written & presented by Dad at my grandmothers memorial service, April 2000.

"I have been blessed with having my mother here on earth for nearly seventy-nine years.  Mom was born April 25th, 1901 near Fargo, North Dakota.  Her parents were immigrants from the Ukraine in Russia.

Mom with her mother

They were looking for a place to settle when mom was born.
They then moved to Saskatuwan, Canada, where she grew up.  At age 7, her mother died, and for the next 8-10 years, she lived with her father, stepmother, 4 brothers, and a number of stepchildren.
Mom was a very spunky young lady, and when her brother Isaac offered to take her to Oregon, she accepted and decided to stay.

1920

She got a job, first as a maid for the Henry Voth family at Salt Creek, and then worked in the Dallas Hospital.
Mom accepted the Lord at a young age in Canada, so when she came to Oregon, she found the Mennonite Church, or Brudertaler, where Solomon Ediger was the pastor.  She soon became acquainted with the Ediger family and fell in love with Aaron Ediger.
They were married in 1920.  I was born in 1921.  Eight more children soon arrived.
Jamie, who preceded his mom's home going, Richard, Miriam, Ted, Barbara, Janet, Beverly, and Emory.  Also surviving are 27 grandchildren, 47 great grandchildren, and 2 great, great grandchildren.

Taking a moment to enjoy her children.

Mom didn't have much financially to work with on in the early days of her marriage.  She had to make due in many ways to support her growing family.
She learned to drive the Model T Ford so she could at least go to the nearby relatives for help when needed.

Pop, as Dad was called worked in the sawmill and commuted those few miles to Dallas with his brothers.
Mom bought material to make our overalls.
When the depression hit in 1929, Pop and Mom lost everything.  By then, she had 4 children.
Every summer, she would take us harvesting or picking, first strawberries, then cherries, raspberries, hops, and then prunes, all of which was our vacation from school.
School in the fall usually started when the prune harvest was finished.  Mom took us camping to the fields, where we would spend weekdays working.
Pop came and got us for Sunday's church.
Mom saw to it that we were well fed.  She used her own money to buy food at the camp store during the hop-picking season.  We were paid each day according to measurement with tickets.  She allowed us to keep most of what we earned for clothing and school supplies.
These jobs took us to various places:  Forest Grove, Eola Hills, Independence, and Silver Creek Falls.  Mom sometimes stayed home to cook when the jobs were right close, such as Dave Peter's Cherries at Fir Villa.

In 1942, economic times were better, and the folks sold their farm on North Fir Villa Road, and purchased a larger farm at Dayton.  Mom worked at many jobs to help with income.  She worked in the turkey plant in McMinnville, and later in West Salem.
After moving to Fruitland, east of Salem, she worked for a time as a cook in a restaurant, and also worked in a mushroom plant.
While living there, my family of 4 came on our first furlough from Mexico.  The folks got us a house across the road from their chicken farm.  Mom would baby-sit for Betty and I so we could go on speaking engagements.  Both Pop and Mom were supportive of our ministering in Mexico.
She wrote us frequently, telling us news from Dallas and Salem.  Her ministry to us started when I was in school at Simpson in Seattle.  On a regular basis, she would recycle her Itemizer Observer, and send it to me at school, to Montana when I was in summer ministry, and to Mexico those early years.

On their 40th wedding anniversary, the folks came to Mexico to visit us.  They experienced the rickety 5-hour bus trip out of Mexico City to Tetela de Ocampo.  And then Mom rode the horse, which was sent for her to take her to Cuautempan, our missionary post.  It was a hard trip, but she greatly enjoyed it, and to see the work the Lord was doing among the Indians at Puebla.

Mom took great delight in the missionary conventions which were held every year in the Alliance Churches of both Salem and Dallas.
This dated back to the early 40's when she hosted the missionary speakers.  Her greatest ministry to people and the church was during the years 1968-1983, when she lived in Keizer, in the mobile home park.
According to mom's diary, her home was the stopping off place and visits from her children and grandchildren.
She records her numerous visits to shut-ins in Dallas and Salem, including her relatives.  She made regular trips to see and encourage Mrs.Ricky, Mrs. Clark, and Mrs.Kliewer in the Lutheran rest home north of Salem.

Every summer during those years were spent canning and freezing fruits and vegetables, enough to send along with the kids and grandkids who visited.

She and Pop drove down to Los Angeles to attend 3 weddings in my family that occurred within 1 year.  On their visits to see us in Los Angeles, Mom would bring these goodies, which she had preserved during the harvest season.
Pop and Mom regularly each summer for 50 years attended Canby Camp.  Never once during that time did they miss hearing famous Alliance ministers giving out the Word.

When Pop's health began to decline in 1984, they moved their mobile home to Independence across the road from Richard and Shirley.  This way, they could help oversee Pop.   During this time, Mom remained strong.  Pop went to his home in Heaven, just short of his 87th birthday.

That same year, Mom moved into the newly constructed Village Retirement Center in Dallas.
Here she enjoyed the love and fellowship of many relatives and friends for 10 years, from 1985-1995.  She remained close to Rich and Shirl, Jamie and Patty and their families.

When it was decided that Mom needed assisted care, she move up to Crista Shores in Silverdale, Wa.  Now she was near two of her daughters, Miriam and Barbara.  One or the other visited her every day, and she made many new friends.
She went with joy to her heavenly home from Silverdale at 3:15 p.m., April 6th, just short of her 99th birthday. 
We thank the Lord that we had her that many years."

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I Wuv My Grandma MOM

 What a legacy she left.  I am forever grateful to have known this great lady and that she was MY grandmother.