Roots

I need to say a little about where - or who - I came from, since much of what I am is because of my parents.  My mom was Cleone Hale, a very talented young woman, with lots and lots of friends, who sewed, sang, played the piano, excelled in school, fulfilled leadership positions in school clubs and sororities, helped with the war effort, was everyone's favorite babysitter and housecleaner, and when she was a junior in high school she fell in love with a boy named Stewart Parker.  Unfortunately for her, he wasn't one to settle down to just one girl, but he was happy to introduce her to his older brother, who was too shy to call for himself.  And so she went to a dance with Max Parker, and eventually decided that he was the one for her. They were engaged in December of 1945, and then he went away for 18 months in the Navy while she graduated from high school and prepared for marriage. They were married in the Logan Temple in 1947, and started a family, and shortly after he finished his education, a career with IBM.

Dad was a great provider, and worked hard to make sure we were taken care of.  There wasn't a lot to spare, and we lived frugally.  If Mom wanted us to have music lessons, she would often trade services in order to pay for them.  She spent many hours ironing other people's clothes to pay for our piano lessons.  She was also an excellent seamstress and even taught people how to sew.  I got a job at a fabric store when I was in college, and after I left to go away to school at BYU she took my position at the fabric store.  Then she moved on to Stretch-And-Sew Fabrics, where she taught classes in sewing with knits.  She had so many other homemaking skills as well, and in her years in Relief Society led many classes and workshops in cooking, sewing, canning, quilting, crafting and many other things that could help other women learn the homemake skills that she possessed. She was an amazing organizer, and whatever she worked at, she did beautifully.  


  If I have any talents and abilities, they are inherited from my dear mother.

So here are some photos of things my mom made, just to show you some of her talents...

1.