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David Mitchell
My mother was a wonderful comforting woman. She was always there to help a friend or neighbor in need and gave my Dad and my sisters and I constant affection and encouragement.
And she had an interesting life growing up - moving six times before finishing grade school. Her dad worked as assistant Public Health Director of Columbus, but then took the job of the head of that department in Minot North Dakota. She had wonderful stories of life with Cowboys, Indians, Gypsies, and Rum Runners, in a town with a dirt main street and raised wooden sidewalks with horse hitch raiiling along the sidewalks. Her dad owned one of the first cars in Minot. He was once robbed by two men on horseback (with faces masked and weilding revolvers) while driving to a baby delivery out of town. He recognized one of the voices as a patient and called him out -
"Dammit Bob, I'm on my way to deliver (Sally Smith's) baby. I''ve only got $14 in my wallet. Now put that damn gun away and ride off. I promise I won't tell any body." And they did ride away - and Grandpa never shared that story till long after it happened.
Then her dad decided later in life to return to Columbus and enter Medical School at OSU. After that, they moved to Chicago for a year of Internship, and eventually, back to Minot to serve on the medical staff at the local hospital run by German nuns. Grandpa Parker (a strict Methodist) became a favorite among the Nuns and the entire staff.
Then they were hit by an epidemic and ran out of the medication. Grandpa Paker (rarely ever sick in his life) died of the disease and Grandma, had to move Mom and her older sister back to those grandparents house in Westbrook, Maine just to afford life without her husband. My mother described the scene to my dad and I one day. She said half the town turned out at the Minot train station in the middle of the night in freezing tempuratures to say goodbye to Doctor Parker and his famiiy.
After a few years in Maine, Grandma moved the girls Back to Columbus, got a job at Lazarus, and re-married. That Grandma was the most loving and gracious woman I ever knew. I spent many hours being baby sat by her in her house on Oakland Park, near High Street.
My mother inherited all of her mother's great qualities, especially kindness.
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