7-11

I'll try to find pics and post them when I get a chance.

July 11th, 1920. My mom was born on that day.
Addalena Loretta Nelson, and Adda was one aunt, and Lena another. Mama felt the name far too frilly, so she changed her name to simply, Lee Nelson. Her dad was Axel Edward Nelson, who was born in Chicago to a family just over from Sweden. In those days, there was no such thing as short-term disability, and Axel had four children. He suffered from pneumonia, but kept on working until the day he died, in 1926. My mother's mother was Hazel Dyer Butz, who was about as Germanic as the day is long. Mama got mostly her father's genes, with the result that I look Swedish and Scottish, and not so much German, just so you know.

Mama passed away when I was in basic training [Navy Aviation Officer Candidate School]; indeed, I was off in the wilderness of Eglin AFB in the Florida Panhandle on survival training. I had sent off a card for Mothers' Day, and she really liked it. Pam [my sister] tells me that it made her smile, and then she was gone. She stood for excellence and instilled that trait in me. [She was a huge Yankees fan, too, by the way. She loved The Mick, but I think her fave was actually Moose Skowron.]

Happy Birthday, Ma!