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Mary Hatteberg Powers
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
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May 11, 2003--On this Mother's Day, a bit of nepotism if you don't mind. On this day, I've always done stories on other people's moms. Not today. Life is too short to put this off. |
This is a face of long life.... a life well lived!
My mom, Mary Hatteberg Powers, 94 years old.
Without her guidance, I wouldn't be talking to you today. With her constant love, no matter how insolent or childish I was, she always forgave me and urged me to achieve what I thought was impossible.
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She was a child of the depression...nothing was impossible after that.
She outlived two husbands. Buried an infant daughter. |
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| Born poor, with five siblings surrounding her that close-knit family proved to be a living model of caring and compassion. |
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We are close, she and I. Always have been.
She was the first nurse to graduate from the Newton Hospital School of nursing in Winfield back in 1932
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Great Nurse! Folks told me time and again, "Your mom is the best nurse I ever had".
I'm not surprised! |
In the '40's, '50's and '60's, she helped my father in the bakery business. Like nursing, it was horrendous hours and difficult times.
But she always had time for me. |
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| I had some insecurity in the early primary grades and found some parts of school difficult. |
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Before school, mom would drive me around, seemingly for hours, talking with me about why I was frightened. She calmed me. She steadied me. She loved me. She was there for me. |
Her hands are soft, like her heart, her eyes warm and beautiful to a grateful child.
Over the years I haven't said I love you often enough. None of us ever do.
At 94, life is slower with lots of pills. She hates those pills, but there she is. Still firm in mind even if the body grows frail. |
I owe so much to this woman whose life is paved with love and compassion. She taught be about good times, she taught me about hard times.
In the winter of her life, she is like an old lion, full of slow ceremony. |
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I am so lucky, so blessed to be this woman's son. Mom, I love you---just like I always have. |
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| Have a story idea for Hatteberg's
People? Send Larry an email
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