I Remember Mama

A change of pace on Mother’s Day. My Mother was a Fox. That is how I got my middle name.

The Fox family were German Jews who came to America virtually on the Mayflower. There is rarely a day that goes by that I do not think of my Mother. When I am asked, at a parlor game or on Facebook, to name a person, alive or dead, with whom I would want to have dinner, my answer never changes—-“My Mother”.

Hortense Ruth Fox was not educated past high school because at that time in our culture, women rarely were. Yet, she was one of the smartest people I have ever met.

Almost all the good things about me were taught to me by my Mother. The bad things about me, I learned myself.

She treated everyone she met with respect notwithstanding their station in life. There was not a prejudiced bone in the body. She loved most all kinds of music, particularly the opera and the theatre. I started going to the theatre at the age of five and the opera not much later. My Mother and I would listen regularly to the Texaco broadcasts from the Met. Her favorite singer was Renata Tebaldi.

She taught me how to be married with advice such as “never make a decision before you consider how that decision affects your Wife”

I have known Barbara over 61 years. She knew and loved my Mother and would say that if she ever had to escape from me, she would run to MY Mother. Many things bind Barbara and me, who will be very happily married 60 years this coming March. One of those things is our mutual love and respect for my Mother. There is not another woman in the world I could meet who knew my Mother. That is a great foundation for any successful marriage.

My Mother was about 6 feet tall. She had the most beautiful hands, with long tapering fingers. My Mother was as elegant a lady as ever existed. She died way too early, and if I could rewrite history, it would be that she lived long enough to teach our children all she taught me, and to see how Barbara and I have done.

Happy Mother’s Day