November 12, 1999

We've lost our personal Angel, or as John Lennon said, in "Abide," "our rock against the wind." At approximately 5:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Florence Margaurite Moon Polley walked through The Veil Of Tears and took the hand of her husband, Forrest, who she had waited to be with again for many years.
It is very hard to put my mother into words. Her quiet, gentle strength was an anchor to all around her. I very rarely remember her raising her voice to anyone. I can only remember her ever speaking harshly to an adult outside the family once. My mother never preached. She taught by example. She cared overwhelmingly for others, even from childhood. The area children sometimes spent more time in our house than they did their own! She was the unofficial grandmother of many children, and they could talk to her about things they couldn't talk to their parents about.
My mother could handle any emergency. Perhaps her only fault was that when things were all over and done with they were never that bad. She tended to make light of everything.
She was quick to forgive and forget, a trait she tried to teach me, but I am afraid I never quite learned, not to the extent that she would have liked. But my mother and I understood each other. She said to me one day "I don't understand everything you do, I don't know where you got these ideas from. I certainly never taught them to you. But I know whatever you're doing, in your own way you're doing what you feel is right." You can't imagine how important those few words were to me! I could go on and on.
There are so many things I could say about my mother, but the most important one is this....when people needed her she was always there. When someone needed help they very rarely even needed to ask, my mother was there and doing for them hardly before their need became apparent. I know some day, somewhere, my mother and I will journey together again. But for the 83 years she spent in this lifetime, in these circumstances, I will forever be grateful, and so will many who passed her way as she journeyed. They will be forever grateful.

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