Remembering Mom
My mom’s memorial service was this weekend. I have another page which contains parts of the service (a life history, a slideshow, my memories of my mom through letters, me playing her favorite piano piece, and images of the program), but I’ve included the slide show below. While I have a lot memories I could write about, there are certainly too many for here; I think the ones I shared during the service cover a good cross-section.
The service was pretty simple, but I tried to have things in it that reflected her life. It was important to me that people from different parts of her life be able to speak and tell stories which not everyone knew about her.
While I was unable to find someone to represent the Ishii side of the family, my cousin Roger was able to talk about my mom when they first met. And a good friend of hers, Steve Aufhauser, spoke of how he got to know her in the art world and how their friendship blossomed. And the officiant, John Teter (one of my cousins), was able to speak not only as a pastor but as someone who joined the family later in her life.
The graveside service was also simple. The plots my dad had procured are on a hill, so while it was a bit of work to get there, they will have a good view.
I have a lot of photos of my mom, especially when she was younger. Of all of them, this is my favorite:
I believe this was in Oak Park, Illinois, in the years after her family left the incarceration camp in Jerome, Arkansas. She seems so happy in the snow, and the framing seems to indicate the whole world is open to her.
This photo is my favorite of her with my dad:
It was taken in 1956. The lore is that it was taken in a bowling alley. I like it because they look so happy together, and they’re drinking coffee. My parents were well-known for drinking lots of strong coffee, so strong that visitors would water it down.
And this photo is my favorite of the two of us:
This was probably in early 1963, and I’m trying to get my mom to give me some of the ice cream she was eating. A nice touch is the bowl, since she liked using Japanese bowls for everyday use.
This is the slide show I put together for the service. The music is the Mozart variations based on the same theme as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (or the ABC song, or Baa Baa Black Sheep). It was recorded at a recital I gave in 1980.
