Tribute to Mrs. John D. Ure
Mom and Dad were married in the Wedding Bell Chapel in Coronado California. Those in attendance were some of their best Navy friends. Following the wedding some of the Navy guys grabbed a stone out of a nearby landscaping and began banging on the bell set out in front of the chapel. When they arrived at their honeymoon destination and opened their luggage they found it full of rice and the rock that banged the bell was included. That simple object has become an important part of my mementos. To show how Mom remembered their friends, just two days before her death a man brought a wheelchair and a commode. She asked me if I thought he looked like Joe Fritz one of the Navy buddies.
Karen came along four years later and was much appreciated. Just when they thought that there was going to be no more children up popped Tom and just when they thought they knew how to raise children Tom showed them a different avenue. Let's just say he was a noncompliant child.
Mother had organization and timing down to a tee. She would get up every morning as faithful as clockwork make coffee, layout dad's clothes, fix him some breakfast getting him off to work always giving him a kiss at the front door and waving goodbye as he drove off. That would have been enough for the morning but now it was time to get the children up, get all the books and homework together, feed them breakfast and get them off to school in the early years either by walking, riding the bus or riding with friends and for a period of time we all got up early together and dad drove us to school.
There was not any concept of having more than one car. If Mom wanted to go shopping or needed the car for the day she would have to drive dad down to work drop him off and use the car for the day and be down there promptly at 4:30 or 5:00 to pick him up.
There was a large period of time in which she did not have Dad home in the evening. By that I mean he drove a truck for Macy's or worked in the warehouse 33 years. Much of the time he was on city delivery and also drove to both Joplin, Wichita, and sometimes Topeka Kansas driving out with a truckload of merchandise swapping it out for more and bringing it back home sometimes parking the truck in the driveway and getting home late at night way after dark at 9:30 or 10 in the evening.
Family Time
