Tuesday, November 14, 2023
My Second Parents
Over the years I have been blessed with a wonderful loving and supportive family. I have been doubly blessed in the parent department as at a very young age I became aware that Albert and Verna Brown had taken on the role as second parents. Alb died some years back and I just received news that Verna had passed last evening. It was not a great surprise as we had been aware that she was approaching the end. She had a great full life and reached a good age. God Bless her and Albert. I hope they are together in Heaven.
They were held in high regard by everyone they knew and especially so by myself who, as I said, looked up to them as second parents. As the years passed I can see the influence they had in my life both in their wonderfully unique way and as role models.
I remember being in their home and feeling part of their much larger more rambunctious family. There was always a pot of pea soup on the stove on Saturdays, a mat to be poked on a cold winter night, a game of rouke, a lunch before going home, maybe a bit of music and a song by Verna and Reg, a fishing trip with Alb, on and on.
I remember when Aunt Margaret came home from the US once and brought the recipe for a jellyroll. Was that ever good. I went home bragging about the piece of jellyroll I had at Verna’s. Mother disappeared shortly in search of recipes. That Sunday we had a lemon jellyroll for desert.
I remember when I was about 14 and shooting up towards six feet in height. Verna sidled up alongside me in the porch and looked me up and down and said I guess you will soon be a man now. There was a bit of a grin on her face. I said, ‘I guess so Verna’. With that she hauled off and socked me in the shoulder. I have never been hit so hard before or since. Albert and Reg and the rest of the family were sniggering and I tried my darndest to suck it up but I don’t think I fooled anyone. Then there was the time when they were going to shoot a rooster for Sunday dinner. I was salivating to get a shot at that rooster. Albert gave the 22 to Verna. The rooster was walking around on the hillside about 40 yards away. Verna put the gun up, took brief aim and shot it through the head. I was totally impressed. I had been hoping to maybe hit it if I got a chance. Verna was all about a clean kill and conserving meat. Again there was quite a bit of sniggering in my direction.
Anyone who knows Verna has experienced her laugh, to say the least it is a full bodied laugh. I have joyed in that laugh many times down through the years. I experienced it one evening when at about 14 or 15 she asked me if I shaved yet. I ran my hand over my face and allowed that I would soon have to. I am not sure how it occurred but shortly I found myself in their bathroom with albert’s razor and my face full of shaving cream. As I pulled the razor down over my face I was feeling quite manly but couldn’t really find enough stubble to justify a shave. At about that time I started to hear sniggers and snorts outside the bathroom door. I realized that it had been inched open and the entire family, except Alb, was peeking in and struggling to hide their mirth. When I looked around they let loose with hoots, sniggers and in Verna’s case a full deep laugh. I was probably fire engine red. When I wiped my face and went out into the kitchen Albert was setting there with a little smile on his face which seemed to say, ‘it’s all right it’s only a little fun’ and that made me feel like it was all right and I was part of this family and I was very lucky.
Verna and Alb, this is only scratching the surface of all the great memories. As I sail past my own ‘best before date’ it’s memories like these that will help sustain me through the months or years I have left. RIP my wonderful friends.
Gordon Mayo cousin
