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My Mom is 85
Being 85 years old must be something. That means you were born in 1921 and you've seen a world of change. Today my Mom, Viola Gagnon, celebrates her 85th birthday. So much has happened in her life, she's done so many things, and met so many people, and watched so many episodes of Jeopardy that it's no wonder she gets a little forgetful sometimes.
At 58 I have my aches and pains and so do many of my friends my age. I just can't imagine living another 27 years. How in the world does her little five-foot body keep going, the legs keep going, the heart keep ticking and her mind keep thinking?
Well, in Mom's case, it starts with the Press-Republican crossword puzzle. She refuses to leave the house until that puzzle is solved. I sat with her the other day when she started it and she was reeling off answers as though she had seen this one before. If the Press-Republican ever has a "Solve the Crossword Puzzle" contest I'm sure Mom would be a finalist. Nothing wrong with that 85-year-old mind. Because she has done so many she can tell you the word for "Franc replacer" and "legend of Zorro heroine" and "pertness." And because she's a Yankees fan she knew "Rodriquez of the Yankees" was "Alex." That happened to be the only one I knew that day.
The next thing that has kept her going is her family. When Dad died in 1983 it was devastating. He was only 62. We all knew it was unfair, but, as Goose explained it, "God must have needed a head-honcho in heaven." Our family pulled together and managed to carry on. The love affair that started in Rouses Point back in the 1930s has never ended. I'm sure Mom thinks about Dad everyday.
The final ingredient in Mom's recipe for a long life is her friends. She is surrounded by friends like Anna, June, Theresa, and, of course, her best friend Camille. Camille is her cat -- her white cat, her fat white cat -- who gets even more spoiled than Goose, Darlene and I did when we lived on Johnson Avenue. Mom gets plenty of phone calls every day from friends and she belongs to clubs like the Rosary Society, the Red Hatters and the Telephone Pioneers.
Mom wraps up each weekday by watching Jeopardy. Like the morning crossword puzzle, Jeopardy is a must. She'll tape the show and watch it later if she is going to miss it. I think that show keeps her mind ticking as she tries to match those geniuses that Alex Trebek queries.
And just because she's 85 today, she knows there's no retirement in being a Mom. Many is the time I've called Mom to ask questions about making a soup, or broiling a steak, or operating a sewing machine. You just never stop being a Mom. In fact, next week she's coming over to my house to show a friend of mine how to use the sewing machine that's been serving as a junk collector for the past two years. You never stop needing a Mom. I've had her for 58 years, and I'm spoiled!
The Gagnon Family had a big bash on her 80th birthday, but tonight we'll celebrate quietly at one of Mom's favorite restaurants. And then tomorrow night we'll meet at her house and have some cake and ice cream -- just so that Camille can be part of the birthday celebration.
She's been a Girl Scout troop leader, a Press-Republican "Good Neighbor," an honors student at Our Lady of Victory Secretarial School. She's been a legal secretary to prominent men like Judge Robert Long, Judge Robert Feinberg and Judge Irving Goldman. She's been a supporter of her kids in high school sports and Acrotheatre. That Acrotheatre part was for our sister Darlene, not for Goose and I. We flunked out of that course!
Above all, she's been a great Mom. And that's what counts most of all. Happy Birthday, Mom!
Comments
Hi Uncle Foxy. Please wish ur mom a happy belated birthday for me. I remember going to her house a while ago and we had a cookout and went swimming. I've actually been wondering how shes been doing. Take Care...
Posted by: angie | November 26, 2006 12:19 PM
Just wanted to say Happy Birthday Vi, you are one special lady! I thought of you all day.
Much Love and Respect!
Posted by: Laura | November 22, 2006 12:31 AM
I wish your mother a very happy 85th birthday. I remember spending time with her and the other women of the Rosary Society and Daughters of Isabella at Our Lady of Victory at their monthly covered dish suppers. My mother would invite me to attend back in the early 70’s and they have become some of my fondest memories of the foundational women of the parish. Your mother always looked beautiful. I remember those special holidays at Mass when she would wear a beautiful, maybe mink, stole, fashionable before the animal rights movement; I was envious. Very best wishes, Mrs. Gagnon.
Elaine from Orlando
Posted by: Elaine Caron Conway | November 21, 2006 9:22 AM
Foxy, It's great to recognize your mom on her birthday. It's also great remembering her smile while watching us playing baseball at Elizabeth Street and pulling for all of us to play well at little league. Happy Birthday Mrs. Gagnon! LB from South Platt
(Foxy's note: Thanks to Larry and everyone who extended her good wishes. She uses her computer and reads my blogs and the comments. She is dying to find out who "the Carver" is, but I cannot reveal the true identity of my bloggers.)
Posted by: Larry Brown | November 18, 2006 10:38 AM
Happy Birthday Vi!....your voice still echos thru the OLVA gym as you and your gang corrected the officials every tuesday and friday night! How come the husbands always sat on the other side??? Ray,Darlene and Gary are 3 lucky kids.. (but I'm sure they already know that) Happy birthday again and many more!!
Posted by: the carver | November 18, 2006 7:32 AM
Hi Foxy!
Please entend my love and very happy birthday greetings to Vi!
What a wonderfully magnificent lady.
Ask her if she remembers our bus trip to Montreal to see Phantom of the Opera at Place des Arts. We were held up at the border because my daughter, now an attorney in Albany, had trouble with ID proving who she was. Alas. Not a fun time. But, all in all, it was a magnificent show after I finally convinced the border inspectors that my blue eyed blond child was not a suspicious character!
Love you, Vi!
Lynda
Posted by: Lynda (Bouyea) Bevins | November 18, 2006 2:16 AM
Foxy, Happy birthday to your mom! As I watched the news today showing the riots caused by the latest play station game I wondered if in 40 or 50 years anybody would remember playstations. It occured to me that many of the familiar things of that long ago have disappeared or are probably difficult to find and need to be explained to the young today. Some of those that come to mind: baseball players that stay with one team, blue laws, carbon paper, ditto machines, card catalogs, civil defense, the draft, drive in movies, gas station attendants, leisure suits, marbles, milkmen, nuns,
penmanship, rotary phones, slide rules,TV antennas, typewriters. Many more could be added, I'm not saying these were better just a lot different. Enjoying N.C. Russ Bordeau
(Foxy's note: Russ, thanks for the great list of items!)
Posted by: RUSS bORDEAU | November 17, 2006 12:40 PM