"Once upon a time your mama knew what it meant to shine."  -  Hope Floats  -  Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock) 

     My life has changed again.  My mom passed away last night.  She was a grand old dame and 100 years old!  I'm posting her obituary here, as her life was incredible:
    "Our beloved Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, and Great-Great-Grandmother passed at the age of 100 after a long and full life of devotion to her family.   Her memory will be cherished by her four children, seven grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.  
     Mama was born in 1913 on a small farm in Mississippi.  After graduation from high school, she moved to the Gulf Coast to take up a career as a hairdresser, which she loved.  Shortly afterwards she met and married our father.  The first time she met him, he turned to a friend and announced, "I'm going to marry her!"
     After the birth of her first child, she gave up her career to dedicate her life to being a loving and devoted wife and mother.  Mama was enormously proud of her children’s successes and accomplishments, in particular the fact that they all graduated from college.  For Mama, education was paramount - she always told her children, it’s not IF you go to college, it’s WHEN you go to college.    
     Mama enjoyed gardening, sewing, quilt-making, reading, crossword puzzles, Elvis, baseball, and, perhaps most of all – ICE CREAM!  She attributed her love of ice cream to a family tradition:  every Sunday afternoon her mother would bake a cake and her father would churn up ice cream in a hand-crank ice cream maker as a special treat for the family.  Mama loved ice cream so much that she ate it for breakfast!
     The daughter of a great cook, Mama always looked forward to family gatherings where she could exhibit her own mastery of cooking.  Her fried chicken, French fries, fried shrimp, gumbo, pies, and German Chocolate Cake were all legendary.
      A lifelong Methodist, Mama cherished her women's Church Circle meetings, which she attended regularly until Hurricane Katrina forced her from her home.  After Katrina, she lived in Austin, Texas and Gautier, but often commented about how much she missed living in her own home and attending Circle meetings with her friends.
     Thank you, Mama, you lived a life full of love, laughter, and service to your family and that family will miss you forever!!
(Quite a lot of content borrowed from my big brother, Charles!)