Mom Louise Katherine Kneuper Martin
Was never ill!
Mom’s mother, Amalia, who was a Meurer
(From Fredericksburg … Texas),
Fought chronic illness
And died at forty-nine … in 1934.
Thusly, Mom, who was approaching ten
Was forced to sacrifice and tough it out thereafter …
• Through various “mom’s”,
• Numerous schools—
o At St. Joseph’s in Comal,
o Green Valley,
o Our Lady of Perpetual Help,
o And Stockdale—
• And loss of the farm at North Cliff
And subsequent sharecropping.
Consequently, Mom was never ill.
Mom’s oldest had pneumonia as a babe
From which newly released penicillin saved.
Brother Lawrence—who’s passed with cancer–
Was carried to Hondo
With dangerous and painful appendicitis.
Internist Dr. John Russell is plagued with Parkinson’s.
Charlie had to leave Aggieland during his first year
Because he was not well.
Skinny Kenny was nagged with asthma from early on.
Linda Lou has to fight a diabetes threat.
But Mom Louise was never ill.
Thinking back though …
Mother did have
A hysterectomy,
Intestinal-health challenges …
Internal repairs,
Gall bladder removal,
Bladder infections, … .
In spite of her efforts at good dental hygiene
She was not blessed with good teeth.
But she never complained!
Mom Louise was never ill!!
At ninety …
Changes in Mom’s corpus
Began to become plain.
She had TIAs. …
Two strokes and falls occurred.
And for the first time, medication was imminent.
Driving and yardwork were forbidden.
Memory and verbal communication largely faded.
Still she never really complains.
At ninety-six now (May 10th)
Mom St. Louise still never complains.
Therefore, in a reality …
Mom St. Louise is NEVER ill.
(I do fervently hope Mom St. Louise/GG is spared by COVID-19.)
……………………………….
Epilogue:
Mom St. Louise has always been
Cool, calm, and collected.
Straight and level.
An amazing critical thinker and decision-maker!
Once when emotional sickness crept in
And tempers flared between Dad and me
And it came to … that we weren’t speaking—
Mom looked Luther Alton in the eye and said,
“You know what you gotta do!!!”
This stubborn, headstrong, temper-prone, cussing homebody,
This World War !! Marine Master Sergeant
Who rarely even left their five acres to even go to San Antone,
Got into their old Chevy with his sweet German bride
And traveled seventy miles one-way from Devine to Seguin
To apologize to his oldest son
Who had almost died of pneumonia so many years ago
(And varying recklessnesses later).
Mother never complained.
She just stayed the course.
So, hear me clearly now.
Mom Louise is most definitely a saint!
On this we all agree.
One point of pride for her eldest son
Is that despite her German Catholic roots–
Which lacked early exposure to ethnic and cultural diversity,
And formal highfalutin education …
She—and Dad too—were largely in humble, supportive, and persevering solidarity
With the Medina County, Texas
Mexican- and African-American community.
NEVERTHELESS, Mom St. Louise is not perfect.
Even saints are flawed.
Saint Louise was looped early on into WOAI news, weather, and farm reports
And lived with life-long listening to this station from San Antonio
Even after it turned into the scary, crazy
Right-wing not-so-Clear Channel.
Relentless bad propaganda can taint anyone.
(I’d guess Mom St. Louise even began to vote Republican
When John Connally of Floresville turned.)
Perhaps this is an illness?
But Mom St. Louise has “never” been ill!
***********************
pbm 3/25/2020
[7 Ss / VV->^^]
