Orpha Lewis's 100th!

 On Sunday March 20th,  George's siblings organized a Zoom meeting tribute to their Mom on her 100th birthday.  Karen wrote a biography and Tammy put together a slide show of photos of her through the years.  It was a wonderful occasion.

The grandchildren shared their memories of Grandma. I love the tender thoughts that our children expressed.  Although her mobility was severely limited through all their lives because of rheumatoid arthritis, she taught them life lessons through her interactions with them, as well as her cheerful acceptance of her limitations.   Each of them was touched by Grandpa's tender devotion to her throughout her life.

Here are some of the family photos through the years.  I wish I had a copy of the family photo on the bottom so that you could see clearly that we were all wearing 'ugly sweaters' and didn't know it!

Tammy didn't marry until several years after her death so Mom didn't know the wonderful additions to the family of Richard's kids, our 'Bonus Family' as I call them! It meant a lot to me, and I am sure to Tammy, that they wanted to know more about Grandma Lewis.  And it is a tribute to the love they have for Tammy.

I learned a few things that I didn't know before.  In the years just before her marriage, she earned a Masters of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Retailing from NYU. I knew that. What I didn't know was that she was in the top 10% of students in her program.  The photo on the left shows the members of the honor society of her program.  Notice anything?  Yes she was the only woman, groundbreaking for 1949-50! The other photo is a newspaper clipping from her hometown of Spanish Fork, Utah.  A sort of 'small town girl makes good in the big city' story.

When are kids were little I asked her what she did to have such smart children and she quickly replied, "marry their Dad".  I don't think that is the entire story.  She gets equal credit in the 'brains' department.

George uses different word to describe his parents. The word that describes his Dad is 'doing' and the word that describes his Mom is 'being'.  One cousin described them this way.  Dad was providing and Mom was nurturing. 

Together they created a wonderful family!

After the meeting we enjoyed several of Mom's recipes

Lemon Pepper Chicken

GreenBean Casserole

Waldorf Salad

canned Peas

Rolls 

Toffee Torte 

All served on her stoneware that Matt inherited.

Then we sang "Happy Birthday" and her Great-Granddaughter blew out the candles!

Happiest of birthdays Orpha, Mom, Grandma!