28 August 2010- My brother emailed me today to tell me that Mother had died in her sleep last evening. Emma Christina Wiedower Howell Hayes (Emma Jo, Gram) was 96. She was born in Haiteville, Arkansas in 1914 to John and Minny Wiedower. Her grandfather, Herman Wiedower, had emigrated from Germany to the Midwest USA when he was six, and eventually moved to Arkansas where he farmed. Her father, John, is still remembered as a successful farmer, but mostly as a kind and generous and god-fearing man. She was the eldest of 10 children, two of whom died in infancy. When she was 14 her family moved to Vinita, Oklahoma, 200 miles away, and she drove her grandfather the entire way in a model A Ford. In those days the roads were dirt, and the highways only two strips on concrete side by side, each just wide enough for a car wheel. She attended school at Sacred Heart Academy in Vinita, Oklahoma, riding her horse the six miles in to school every day, except for the winter months when she boarded over. She was offered a basketball scholarship to Dallas University, but chose to go to work in Little Rock, Arkansas. After three years she married Harold Albert Howell, of Vinita in the late 30’s. I, first, and then my brother, Bill, came along over a four year period during World War II. Mother was the proverbial joiner/organizer whether it be Cub Scouts, PTA, Women of the Moose, or some money collecting charity. The common saying of my school friends, even through high school was, “I just love your mother.” She loved a party, and could dance your legs off. She was a fastidious dresser, who always prided herself on looking as if she had just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. She encouraged sports, friendship, studies, and for years was a frequent, if not daily attendee at daily Catholic mass. She worked as a book-keeper to help me pay for medical school, and Bill for law school. She loved her 5 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Although her marriage to Harold ended in 1968 she never ceased to love him. She did marry Jose Hayes years later, but wound up leaving him because, “He didn’t know how to treat me with respect.” She moved to The Dalles, Oregon to be near Bill and I, and was independent and happy there for many years. Over the past five years she suffered a gradual deterioration in her mental stability as Alzheimers attacked her with a vengeance. She learned to be happy with what she could do, and remember, and resolved to just not worry about the rest. The last year has seen her become more and more confused, sad, and upset, especially over the past three months in which she could not recognize family members, and always looked very unhappy. She died in her sleep last evening. Bill said that when he saw her after her death she looked absolutely peaceful. She has gone to meet her God, and I am sure he welcomed her with open and loving arms, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” As she herself said, “I tried to do the best I knew how.” And I am sure that is just what He was looking for. Love you, Mother. Rest happy in your new home.