Serving (Letty: Part 3)

The Lord graciously took my dear mother-in-law, Letty Hueni, to Himself on April 23rd after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and the effects of several strokes. Bed-ridden for her last five years, she was wonderfully cared for by Dad and the surrounding family. She never left home. I thought I would post some thoughts about mom over the next few days…

You didn’t have to be around Mom for long to notice that she had a servant’s heart.

We lived in a small cottage not far from Lake Ontario as newlyweds. It was rather idyllic, but to afford this acre lot surrounded by millionaire neighbours, I had negotiated with my landlord to care for the lawn. “Lawn” may be an overstatement. “Forest” may be more accurate.

I am trying to recall now how many bags it was… 15, 25, 40? I think it was close to 40. Mom and Dad had come up to visit us in our new digs and while I was off trying to sell Russian cars in Canada’s wealthiest neighbourhood, they were raking.

For two days they raked and raked and gathered up somewhere around 40 bags of leaves. It took me a while to drive them all to the end of the lane for pick up.

I was amazed to think they would do that. It was a huge service to us as we got settled into our life together. And that would become a signature of my in-laws. Mom seemed to love to serve. She would even sneak off and do our laundry sometimes when we were down to visit!

And she was consistent. If you were sitting down, you were offered food and drink. If you were working at something, you were offered help. And obviously, it wasn’t just us. I watched Mom serve church members, neighbours, family and even strangers.

What floors me now is that I cannot remember a single time she expressed the slightest level of annoyance at having to serve. Rather, it seemed like it was her joy. In some very deep places the Gospel of Jesus Christ had taken root and borne good fruit in her life.

Portions (Letty: Part Two)

The Lord graciously took my dear mother-in-law, Letty Hueni, to Himself on April 23rd after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and the effects of several strokes. Bed-ridden for her last five years, she was wonderfully cared for by Dad and the surrounding family. She never left home. I thought I would post some thoughts about mom over the next few days…

Back in those days when Susan and I were engaged to be married, my 23^rd birthday came along. Mom asked what I would like and I told her that a new bottle of Drakkar Noir would be nice. For the uninitiated, Drakkar Noir was, in 1989, about the coolest cologne a guy could splash on.

Well, my birthday arrived and with it a box from Mom and Dad. I opened it up only to find the largest spritzer of cologne on the open market. The thing was huge. In fact, I am still using it! Scents and sprays may have moved on but I am still happily exuding 1989!

This penchant for the large was a mom trademark. That same summer I was working back in Canada and she insisted on sending a dinner every week in my work cooler for the long drive home from Indiana. This was remarkable. Five or six cold meat sandwiches (with ketchup nonetheless!), two full sized bag of chips (“you like Doritos?”), two full baggies of carrot slices, other assorted fruit and vegetables, and a few sodas (“you like Dr. Pepper?”). I don’t think I ever told her, but that “supper” would last for the drive home and all the way to Wednesday lunch!

Then there was the year I asked for a bag of the infamous Leman’s mints for a Christmas gift. When we got to Indiana there was a good-sized box under the little artificial tree that had my name on it. Leman’s mints came in small bags, not a box. I was curious, but not shocked. When I opened my present there were 48 bags of mints in the box!

Now, I used to think that mom just thought I was enormous and thus everything needed to be big. But I saw her and Dad give generously to so many through the years that I learned it was only a sign of her deep love and generosity that she gave so much. For, it wasn’t just gifts. Mom gave her food, her work, her affection, her joy, her time, her babysitting, her home, her thoughtfulness, and her prayers in the same huge portions. And she lived like a woman who expected nothing in return.

The Night I Fell in Love with Letty

The Lord graciously took my dear mother-in-law, Letty Hueni, to Himself on April 23rd after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and the effects of several strokes. Bed-ridden for her last five years, she was wonderfully cared for by Dad and the surrounding family. She never left home. I thought I would post some thoughts about mom over the next few days…

Tonight I have been enjoying one of my favorite Mom memories. It was early in my engagement to Susan and I was down visiting my fiancé on a summer weekend. (Those were the days... working 60 hour weeks landscaping, jumping in the 3-cylinder Pontiac Firefly on Friday nights and zooming off to my love!)

Anyway, it was one August Saturday night around the little family room table eating fresh corn on the cob when it happened. I am something of a corn on the cob fiend, truth be told, and I was enjoying this Indiana specialty. Really enjoying it.

Somewhere in the middle of my third or fourth cob, Mom put hers down, looked over at me (with that twinkle in her eye I would come to love) and said matter-of-factly, “You sound like a pig when you eat.”

That was it.

But it was all so dry and so innocent and so wonderfully true! And we all laughed a lot as she went back to eating.

I decided right then and there that we were going to be good friends, me and Letty. And through the years she would say the funniest things at the most unexpected times. She was the master of the “zinger!” She could wonderfully crush me or call my bluff in ten words or less! I often wondered if she knew what she was doing. She had that kind of Gracie Allen charm about her that made you wonder, “Did I just get got?” And then she would be back to sewing or cooking or cleaning or reading a book to one of my kids with a little smile hiding underneath.

Dreadful Alzheimer’s eventually stole much of that sparkle, but that just makes memories sweeter now.