My mother
 |
| Painting of my mother and father during WWII at Jackson Square in New Orleans |
 |
| At our 25 wedding anniversary |
My mother and father were incredible people. Both were raised in the depression and understood the value of hard work and being good citizens. They raised their children to love God and to be kind and caring people. We don't always do that, but they tried to instill in us those values.
My mother was raised in New Orleans and married my father shortly after the war. They started and raised their family here.
She loved to write and tell stories.
She loved an adventure!
She loved to smile!
She truly loved life.
She was the mother who taught me to pray before going to sleep. She was the mother who read to me every night. I learned so much about Jesus and the great biblical heroes from my mothers soothing voice. When we ran out of biblical stories and heroes, she either made up stories or read from other sources. I fondly remember my mother reading Shakespeare to me. She would animate her voice to make the characters come alive for me. Lesson for us all, read to your children, it is something they will never forget as long as they are alive.
I will always remember that anytime that I bought or built a car that was a convertible, she wanted to ride with the top down and loved the wind on her hair. She also rode on my the back of my motorcycle. I could always count on my mom to hop in the car and go.
 |
| One last dance with my mother |
Some days I feel that I got short changed with the time that I had with her. She was forty when she had me. She died at 92. I wish I could have had another twenty years with both her and my father. He passed away when I was 41 and I could sure use some fatherly advice some days.
I was fortunate I guess to have them for the time I did. I loved them and they will always be with me in my heart.
I like to think that I have some of my mother's qualities. The love of adventure and trying new things. The ability to laugh and see the humor of life. And of course the desire to write and tell a story. She loved doing that and even published a children's book.
I could always count on her for a glass of cold water or tea as I worked in the yard after my dads death. She loved the all of the azaleas he planted and she loved walking the property he cared for. Somethings in my life I guess will never be the same. I miss her...
 |
| My mother at her 90th birthday celebration, beautiful as ever! |
Marcelle Ernewein [Mom]
On behalf of the family I would first like to thank everyone for being here today to celebrate my mother’s Christian life of faith. We would like to thank this church family for being just that, a family to her. We would like to thank everyone for their prayers over the last few years and especially the last two weeks, they are greatly appreciated. We would also like to thank the doctors and nurses and aids who always took great care of our mother. I would also like to add that we as a community should keep our doctors and nurses uplifted in our prayers as they do their work in caring for us, but especially on this day I want to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Matthew McGalven, he cared for both our father and our mother and is one of the best doctors in the area I believe and both he and his wife are good Christians, please keep them uplifted in your daily prayers.
Our mother, the queen as she is often referred as, or any number of other names that she used over the years was an incredible woman. Anything that I relate from this point on would be what I remember and not necessarily the truth, as mom tended to paint outside the lines if you know what I mean.
She was raised during the depression in the Carrollton area of New Orleans I believe and the memory she would share of that time would always be sharing the nickel Hubig pie. She went to Crossman on Carrollton and at some point I believe she went to a business school to hone her typing and office skills. With the start of WWII she joined the Red Cross I believe and she always told us how the Italian POWs who cleaned the offices and who picked up the garbage would whistle at her on street or always tried to get a peek at her legs as she sat at her desk….our mom
She met our father at the dinner table during WWII while he was stationed in Pensacola and came to New Orleans on leave. She hooked our father thru his stomach, though I never knew if she told the truth about who actually cooked the fried chicken that sealed the deal. But truth be told, he said it was love at first sight. I always say that our parents looked like Hollywood movie stars at that age; they both were incredibly good looking. Not sure what happened to us….
I understand after the war they got married at the old St. Agnes church in Jefferson and bought property on Westbury a few blocks away. They lived in an Army barracks/hut for a time as dad built the first house himself. She helped raise her baby brother at that time and eventually I guess they decided it was time to have children of their own. Once they started with children, it took them a while to stop. I was the last, mom having me at forty. I guess you could say our parents were pro-life and for that we are all fortunate. They weren’t rich by worldly standards, dad working as a meter reader and taking on multiple odd jobs and mom raising children. The joke as they say was by the time she had the last three, mom had gotten out of the raising children business and Mary and Beth were actually the ones who raised us Joan and Ann…I think they say that just so we treat them nice…
Anyway, I remember being raised in home with love. We had everything we needed. We all have different memories of moms cooking skills and favorite meals, for me it was Cream Tuna on toast with cheese and roast at least once a week and evidently what I don’t remember didn’t go to waste because we all are healthy. She and dad I believe did the best they could.
I believe one of the greatest gifts that mom and dad gave to us was bringing us to the waters of baptism and introducing us to a loving God and merciful savior Jesus. She made sure that we were up and dressed and sitting politely in church every Sunday. I don’t know how she did that, but she did.
I cannot imagine the sacrifices that she made throughout her life to raise us, but she made them and made sure that she never complained about anything that she did for us.
They raised us to be hard workers and to respect others. Over the years I know that she wrote copy for a newspaper and of course my favorite job that she had was working concessions at a movie theater. Very recently I found that mom also exploited us by using as child models to do runway fashion shows at Lakeside. Mom, I am looking for that bank account for my modeling work as a child!
But most of you gathered know the older mother, grandma, GG… The woman who loved to be dressed to the nines and on the go! That is who most of us will miss the most. She loved and accepted all of us. Whoever we brought in her life, she didn’t judge, she just accepted and loved, so much can be learned from her example.
Everyone gathered this day will have their own special memory of mom. Share it, write it down, and never forget it. She will always live in our hearts as that special woman who made our life brighter.
On Wednesday morning at 9:40 after less than a week at home being cared for by her family, having been surrounded by her loved ones, she passed so peacefully, it was surreal. No labored last breath, no rattle, just a minute or two of normal calm breathing and her heart stopped beating, her life passed.
I think in that moment, the angels came to her and said it was time, Jesus was waiting for her. She was welcomed into her heavenly home, a mansion in sky as scripture tells us, not made with hands as in our homes, but made by our God our Father, eternal. Now she like all others await the day of the glorious resurrection that we have been promised because of Jesus conquering death and the grave! What a day that will be….
In closing, how would I want our mother to be remembered? As a good and faithful servant of the Lord, a Christian; a woman who loved her Lord and served him by being the best wife, mother and grandmother, GG that she could be.
She was always willing to do for others and placed them first and never wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings. That was mom, maybe we could all learn a little from that.
Thank you for letting me share a little about our mother. Thank you Ed and Marty, Mary who husband Joe is already home with the Lord, Beth and Gary, Joan and Robert, Ann, whose daughter Jackie was also there to great our mother, thank you…and thank you to my wife Peggy….God blessed us with our spouses and family and we all did our best to care for the person we called mom.