"Life is eternal and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." Rossiter W. Raymond
My mother was born on September 25, 1922 in the tiny Wisconsin Village of Haugen. She was the first-born child of Alfonse and Helen (Manley).
Mom was a born adventurer. Considering her descent from a long line of pioneers on both sides of her family tree, I suppose this was to be expected. She was also beautiful, funny, intelligent, insatiably curious about everything, bold, courageous, loving, and strong.
She was always a country girl at heart but the lure of the Big City tugged at her. She had a longing for new places and interesting people. So after high school (1940) she moved to Chicago and went to work as secretary to the President of Edwal Laboratories. She loved the excitement of city life, and it was there she met my dad - 18 years her senior. It was a May-December romance but the love of a lifetime for both.
When the war ended Mom and Daddy married and moved to Davie, Florida - at the time a small, unincorporated town west of Ft. Lauderdale. There they had my sister and me and built their lives together. Daddy opened a hardware store and mom did what most moms did in the 1950s and 60s - took my sister and me to Sunday School, volunteered at our elementary school, sewed all our clothes and generally created a wonderful childhood for us.
By the mid-1960s mom had become very involved in town government. She was the first Town Clerk when Davie incorporated, and later the first Town Councilwoman. So active was she in her community that in 2013 she was recognized by the Broward County Historical Commission as an official "Broward Pioneer". After Daddy died in 1977, she sold everything, packed up, moved back north and started yet another adventure, opening a bookstore on her own at age 60. It only lasted a few years, but she loved every minute and never regretted it. After returning to Wisconsin for another few years to care for her mother, she moved back to Melbourne in Florida.
There she stayed for her last 26 years - strong, self-sufficient and independent until the end at 92. Without a doubt she was the driving influence in my life and the older I get the more I realize it. She gave my sister and me everything she had to give. And it was more than enough.
My mother was born on September 25, 1922 in the tiny Wisconsin Village of Haugen. She was the first-born child of Alfonse and Helen (Manley).
Mom was a born adventurer. Considering her descent from a long line of pioneers on both sides of her family tree, I suppose this was to be expected. She was also beautiful, funny, intelligent, insatiably curious about everything, bold, courageous, loving, and strong.
She was always a country girl at heart but the lure of the Big City tugged at her. She had a longing for new places and interesting people. So after high school (1940) she moved to Chicago and went to work as secretary to the President of Edwal Laboratories. She loved the excitement of city life, and it was there she met my dad - 18 years her senior. It was a May-December romance but the love of a lifetime for both.
When the war ended Mom and Daddy married and moved to Davie, Florida - at the time a small, unincorporated town west of Ft. Lauderdale. There they had my sister and me and built their lives together. Daddy opened a hardware store and mom did what most moms did in the 1950s and 60s - took my sister and me to Sunday School, volunteered at our elementary school, sewed all our clothes and generally created a wonderful childhood for us.
By the mid-1960s mom had become very involved in town government. She was the first Town Clerk when Davie incorporated, and later the first Town Councilwoman. So active was she in her community that in 2013 she was recognized by the Broward County Historical Commission as an official "Broward Pioneer". After Daddy died in 1977, she sold everything, packed up, moved back north and started yet another adventure, opening a bookstore on her own at age 60. It only lasted a few years, but she loved every minute and never regretted it. After returning to Wisconsin for another few years to care for her mother, she moved back to Melbourne in Florida.
There she stayed for her last 26 years - strong, self-sufficient and independent until the end at 92. Without a doubt she was the driving influence in my life and the older I get the more I realize it. She gave my sister and me everything she had to give. And it was more than enough.
"Life is eternal and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." Rossiter W. Raymond
My mother was born on September 25, 1922 in the tiny Wisconsin Village of Haugen. She was the first-born child of Alfonse and Helen (Manley).
Mom was a born adventurer. Considering her descent from a long line of pioneers on both sides of her family tree, I suppose this was to be expected. She was also beautiful, funny, intelligent, insatiably curious about everything, bold, courageous, loving, and strong.
She was always a country girl at heart but the lure of the Big City tugged at her. She had a longing for new places and interesting people. So after high school (1940) she moved to Chicago and went to work as secretary to the President of Edwal Laboratories. She loved the excitement of city life, and it was there she met my dad - 18 years her senior. It was a May-December romance but the love of a lifetime for both.
When the war ended Mom and Daddy married and moved to Davie, Florida - at the time a small, unincorporated town west of Ft. Lauderdale. There they had my sister and me and built their lives together. Daddy opened a hardware store and mom did what most moms did in the 1950s and 60s - took my sister and me to Sunday School, volunteered at our elementary school, sewed all our clothes and generally created a wonderful childhood for us.
By the mid-1960s mom had become very involved in town government. She was the first Town Clerk when Davie incorporated, and later the first Town Councilwoman. So active was she in her community that in 2013 she was recognized by the Broward County Historical Commission as an official "Broward Pioneer". After Daddy died in 1977, she sold everything, packed up, moved back north and started yet another adventure, opening a bookstore on her own at age 60. It only lasted a few years, but she loved every minute and never regretted it. After returning to Wisconsin for another few years to care for her mother, she moved back to Melbourne in Florida.
There she stayed for her last 26 years - strong, self-sufficient and independent until the end at 92. Without a doubt she was the driving influence in my life and the older I get the more I realize it. She gave my sister and me everything she had to give. And it was more than enough.
My mother was born on September 25, 1922 in the tiny Wisconsin Village of Haugen. She was the first-born child of Alfonse and Helen (Manley).
Mom was a born adventurer. Considering her descent from a long line of pioneers on both sides of her family tree, I suppose this was to be expected. She was also beautiful, funny, intelligent, insatiably curious about everything, bold, courageous, loving, and strong.
She was always a country girl at heart but the lure of the Big City tugged at her. She had a longing for new places and interesting people. So after high school (1940) she moved to Chicago and went to work as secretary to the President of Edwal Laboratories. She loved the excitement of city life, and it was there she met my dad - 18 years her senior. It was a May-December romance but the love of a lifetime for both.
When the war ended Mom and Daddy married and moved to Davie, Florida - at the time a small, unincorporated town west of Ft. Lauderdale. There they had my sister and me and built their lives together. Daddy opened a hardware store and mom did what most moms did in the 1950s and 60s - took my sister and me to Sunday School, volunteered at our elementary school, sewed all our clothes and generally created a wonderful childhood for us.
By the mid-1960s mom had become very involved in town government. She was the first Town Clerk when Davie incorporated, and later the first Town Councilwoman. So active was she in her community that in 2013 she was recognized by the Broward County Historical Commission as an official "Broward Pioneer". After Daddy died in 1977, she sold everything, packed up, moved back north and started yet another adventure, opening a bookstore on her own at age 60. It only lasted a few years, but she loved every minute and never regretted it. After returning to Wisconsin for another few years to care for her mother, she moved back to Melbourne in Florida.
There she stayed for her last 26 years - strong, self-sufficient and independent until the end at 92. Without a doubt she was the driving influence in my life and the older I get the more I realize it. She gave my sister and me everything she had to give. And it was more than enough.
