*****a side note, after posting my dad's history, i called my mom to make sure i was accurate, dates, details, etc. anyway, we started talking about what i would write for her family history and making sure the time line i had in my head was right. it was a great moment in family history because i actually learned things about her i never knew before! so this has been a very fruitful exercise! thanks mom!
my mom was the fourth child and first girl born to my grandpa and grandma smith. they named her margaret sharon, after my grandma's oldest sister named margaret. but they never had any intentions of calling her margaret, she was always sharon. she said that some of her college friends called her margaret and that a boy she dated called her maggie, but she has always been sharon.
she was born in vineburg, california, in napa county. her three older brothers were excited to have a sister. over the years, they had various dogs, chickens, pigeons, and rabbits. they also had a magnificent garden. she and her dad would go out with the salt shaker and eat the sun ripened tomatoes off the vine. her dad was a dairy man and would bring home fresh milk from the dairy. he worked early, early shifts. my grandma worked at the state mental hospital as a tech, (which, listening to her stories, she was doing the work of nurses and doctors sometimes, and she only had a high school education. how the health care regulations have changed!) while my grandma worked and my grandpa tried to sleep, that left 3 reluctant babysitters/older brothers to watch my mom. she tells stories about floating in/swinging over the river near their house, and not one of them knowing how to swim. one of her brothers accidentally shot her in the face with an arrow, she still has the scar in her eyebrow.
my mom grew up quite poor. and while my grandma and grandpa were raised devout mormons in northern utah/southern idaho and got married in the logan temple, they were not what you would call active. yet, my mom went to church, with her brothers or friends, or ward members who came and picked up them to give them a ride. a random ward member baptized her. the church tried to give them nice things . my mom remembers one church carnival that had a fishing pond for the kids to fish for little trinket-y prizes. when it was her turn, she reeled in a beautiful doll. apparently, this was rigged just for her.
my mom and her brother who is just older than her, eldon, danced together. they had little matching outfits and preformed their routines at the county and state fairs and other local events. one time, about 15 years ago, at my uncle dale's house, they tried to do their routine again, it was so hilarious. we all were laughing so hard we were crying!
my mom was a majorette in high school. this means she twirled the baton and lead the marching band. they preformed in lots of parades and she was an amazing baton twirler. she can twirl super fast, toss it behind her back, catch it with her other hand, and keep twirling. i loved watching her twirl the baton when i was little and always tried to twirl it like her. i also loved her sequined vest/shorts combo.
When my mom was 14, she contracted polio. they think it was from a swimming pool, although no one is certain. after treatment, hospitalizations, surgeries, the doctors put her in a upper body cast. she described it as an extremely heavy (approx 50 lbs) cast. it went over her left shoulder but not her right, her arms weren't in it, and it went down to her waist. they would replace it every 6 weeks, at that time she was allowed a bath. other than that, she took washcloth bathes and washed her hair in the sink. she wore that cast for 2 and a half years. it came off right before she graduated high school. the doctors also told her that the polio and resulting back curvature, stunted her growth and they projected she would have been 5"10. she has never let this disease bring her down. she still was very active her whole life and if she didn't tell you she had had polio, you would have never guessed.
she went to BYU and graduated with her degree in fine arts. while at the Y, she was in the group, the Young Ambassadors. they were a touring show choir. as a favor to one of the father's of a girl in the choir, the choir appeared on the ed sullivan show. yes, my mom has sung on national tv. after she graduated from college, she went to norway with her good friend from BYU, ann bodien, who was from norway and a recent convert to the church. while visiting her, my mom answered an ad in the paper looking for a nanny for a family who lived in spain who were vacationing in norway for the summer. she answered the ad and told me she at that moment she knew she would get the job and was supposed to stay overseas. she loved the floustad (sp?) family and kept in touch with them for years and years after that job.
when my mom met my dad, she was working for the county of ventura, in southern california. she was running a state-run daycare program with her friend charolette. i have heard about those day-care kids my whole life. being a "state-run" daycare program, meaning not just lower income, the LOWEST income and it being inner city, well, lets say, there a million interesting stories. and i honestly think my mom knows about a 1000 kid songs. she knows more songs than anyone else i have ever met. all those years working with kids!
my mom weighed the same the day she graduated high school at 18 and the day she got married 20 years later. my parents lived with my grandma and grandpa smith in camarillo when i was born. we moved to germany when i was 3. my mom used to iron my underwear in the morning before school. she packed/made my lunch 95% of the time my entire academic career, k-12. i used to joke with my friends that my mom was june cleaver. i didn't know macaroni came in a box until i was in junior high. she had always made homemade macaroni. to my mom, a meal consists of a main course, salad, 2 or 3 side dishs, bread and dessert. i'm sure we didn't have dessert every single meal, but it was more times than not. and it was always from scratch. and multiple desserts, like the carrot cake with cream cheese icing AND the chocolate bunny cake on easter. we dressed up like pilgrims and indians for thanksgiving every year until i was like 10. she cooked for an army and it was always the 3 of us! the night before long trips, she would stay up and cook bacon, make blueberry muffins and boil eggs. the next morning she had for each one of us, a brown lunch sack with our breakfast in it; bacon in a plastic baggie, a muffin in a plastic baggie, a hard boiled egg in a baggie and another baggie she had put a little salt and pepper in for us to dip our hard boiled egg in. yeah, i know. wow.
my mom is ALWAYS right. when we watch any murder/mystery show, she always knows very early on, who-dun-it. she is very good at wheel of fortune, crossword puzzles, board games, card games, and 20 questions. my dad can never surprise her, she always guesses right.
she met elvis presley when she was a teenager. he was filming some movie in napa and he and his cousins were meeting fans one afternoon. her church group went over to meet him and he kissed her hand and said, "i bet you won't wash that." and she said back, "don't count on it!" my mom totally snubbed elvis! she said he was greasy (even though this was the young, handsome elvis, pre-priscilla, not fat, vegas elvis) and dirty, like a creep. my mom liked ricky nelson way better.
one year when i was little, on december 23, i told my mom i had a secret with santa claus. i told her that i didn't tell anyone else but him what i really wanted for christmas. i told her what i wanted was a nurses' outfit. here it was, 2 days before christmas, all my presents had been purchased since september and i was now telling her that i had a secret with santa. she stayed up and sewed a nurses's cape, hat and skirt/apron with a pocket and "santa" gave that to me. it was so important to her that i still believed in santa and not be crushed on christmas morning.
my mom is a very, very friendly, generous, and compassionate person. she loves children and always has special little friends wherever she goes. she loves buying and giving presents and her german neighbors benefited for years from that. we were always shopping for somebody's baby, or graduation or for a wedding present. she remembers everybody's birthday and special occasion. she always brings something to every single ward function and it is always eaten 100%. she volunteered in every one of my classes all through elementary school. in fact, the last day of school when i was in the 8th grade, (the school was k-8) my parents received a special "lifetime" achievement award for all their support to the school for 9 solid years. every teacher and faculty member signed it. she never missed a bake sale, PTA meeting, back to school night, science fair, or any other school function.
one of my favorite "mom stories" involves me, but i was too young to remember. one time when i was 2 or 3, we were grocery shopping and i noticed a woman who was rather obese. in my not-so-quiet little girl voice, i said, "look at that fat lady, mommy" my mom was quite mortified and even more so as the woman actually came over to talk to my mom. the lady said,"you should teach your daughter some manners" and my mom said back, quick as a wink, "lady, you should go on a diet". she grabbed me out of the cart and left the grocery store! i still wish i could see an instant-replay of that moment!
