Celebrating My Remarkable Mother on Mother’s Day and Every Day

Betty  – 1920 – 2007

Betty  – about 1980                     Betty – about 1941                       Betty – about 1929

My mother passed away 6 years ago at 86 years of age. She was a nurturing mother, a devoted wife, an artist, writer, photographer and traveler. She was smart, independent and always busy to a fault. It’s only very recently that I am coming to understand how much I am like her and the huge influence that she has had on my life.

My mother was healthy and active until a few months before her death. She choose not to fight the cancer and had time to prepare for her passing.  We found deep in her closet a bundled manuscript and her original pen and ink drawings for an unpublished book, Cataclysmania.  Under her direction, my patient and technical husband Art scanned her drawings and formatted her writing into a 100 page softbound book.  Unfortunately, the book was not printed before her death but we gave copies away to her friends and family at her memorial.

The Reptile Band Cataclysmania

Apollo and the Monster Cataclysmania

Above are just two images of many from my mother’s book, Cataclysmania.

This week, to honor my mother; Alisha, (my daughter and Betty’s granddaughter,) worked to archived her original pen and ink drawings into an acid free scrap book format.

Alisha archiving the Cataclysmania manuscript

Happy Mother’s Day!

With love and admiration from your family.