In Mom's Memory, Families Write Beautiful Tributes

Saying goodbye to one's mother is one of the hardest things many of us ever go through. One thing families often find helps is telling Mom's story: putting her life into words, to be preserved and cherished for the ages.

Here at Legacy, we're frequently touched to encounter beautiful, lovingly detailed obituaries in which a mother's children have conjured her spirit on the page. This Mother's Day, we're honoring that love by sharing three recent obituaries we've seen for unforgettable mothers — mothers whose families have blessed us all by honoring and celebrating their life stories.

Bernice Black of Pennsylvania “grew up in the shadow of World War II and came of age in the era of historic civil rights legislation.... She was an excellent, enthusiastic student participating in theatrical and literary pursuits. She loved going to the movies, especially musicals, acting in plays, and spending time with friends, her cousin, and her younger siblings. It was her dream to go to Howard University, where she received a partial scholarship, but she settled for a less expensive local institution. Like many women of her generation, Bernice's education was interrupted, in this case temporarily, by marriage and children. In 1960 at a party full of poets, writers and radicals, Bernice was introduced to John Black... who had emigrated to the United States from Berlin, Germany. Within one week they were engaged.

Claire Ulam Weiner's obituary tells how she spent her childhood in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where her physicist father worked on the Manhattan Project. “She grew up surrounded by the great minds of the Nuclear Age, and their eccentricity and brilliance infused her own. She developed a voracious appetite for insights and information — whether consumed in one of the many newspapers and websites and newsletters she read daily, or untraditionally, from her love of mystery stories. Everywhere she went in the world, her first steps were to procure the local paper and to buy a mystery that was set there.”

Evelyn N. Hudson Green of Trenton, New Jersey, is remembered in her obituary as a devoted teacher: “Evelyn developed close bonds with her students. Some of her happiest moments were when she saw former pupils in the community and talked about what they had been doing since leaving her classroom. Evelyn's love of teaching extended to helping college students prepare to teach. She also mentored new teachers. Evelyn was a strong believer in the fundamentals — reading, writing, and arithmetic, but she would not miss an opportunity to explain the importance of voting or ‘putting your best foot forward.’”

View more stories of unforgettable mothers on Legacy.