Yvonne Delores Frelot

In loving memory of my Mom, Yvonne Delores Frelot, who blessed this earth and our lives on September 9th, 1934, and was called back to heaven on June 12th, 2023.
So many memories. So much family history. She was the baby girl of her family, the 6th child from her parents, Alice and Isaac Dronet. Her parents used to take people in their home all the time, helping them to get settled and on their feet before leaving on their own because there were a lot of jobs in Lake Charles, Louisiana during that time, especially when the war arrived. I believe that's where my moms nurturing nature started, always wanting to help and care for someone. My cousins experienced that first hand as she watched over them at a young age. Both Ras and Linda didn't want my mom to leave when she came to California. And she taught us love and caring from all she did for us.
My mom would follow her big sister Mae around a ot, those two being strong friends and sisters. She learned to box from her brother Orin who learned in the Navy, making sure she didn't get picked on since she was petite. And that strength stayed with her because we would always try to beat her at arm wrestling and she would beat us every time, and would laugh while she was breaking our egos.
She loved to dance and she told me stories of her and her classmates making there own stage from desks after class and putting on their own show. And later at Boston High, playing Basketball becoming the Captain of the team, at 4'11",, back when women were only allowed to play half-court. And you would see her skill whenever we played her in the backyard.
She designed/Decorated windows for the Kress stores later on, and when she was coming to this state, they didn't want her to leave but helped her transfer to a Kress here in San Francisco. And she worked with them until she had her third child, my brother Kelvin. I so wish i had pictures of those windows she did.
She and my Dad knew each other since they were very young, and were always in contact. Eventually that day came when my dad, after serving in the Army as a Paratrooper, and then finishing college at McNeese St, asked my mom to go to San Francisco with him and get married. She was originally going to try dancing professionally with some friends from Houston and try for New York Broadway, But she said, "Ok" to my dad. And they came here.
She always had that spark in her, that seemed to attract to her so easily. And if she had decided to do something else, she would have been great!! We talked about how she wanted to be a dancer on Broadway because that desire was just "in" her. And it's funny, she would have moments with celebrities through her life. Like when she first moved to San Fran and was staying with family members from my fathers side, and there were three guys who would practice singing there. and she knew one of them would make it more than the others. And that one was Johnny Mathis. Or the time she met Tom Hanks, and, being my mom, she was telling him where to get good food for cheaper prices. Forever the economist, my darling mom. Or when they would go to the Giants games, and Willie Mays would flirt with her. My brother got quite a few autographed balls from him.
But her fondest memory that she talked about the most, was when she was at city hall, and they were filming a movie. They had been practicing and the actress saw mom and my little sister and approached them and just started a conversation, while playing with Vondra. She liked Vondra's outfit, talked about making a movie, and my mom talked about wanting to be a dancer, and raising kids. Just two women chopping it up, enjoying each others company. And that actress was Goldie Hawn, and they were filming "Foul Play". And my mom always said how sweet she was with her. (and i always wanted to thank Goldie for that)
I could go on with so much, from how she was one of the original Uber driver before Uber, taking all the neighborhood kids to school. Lol. Or her love for the 49ers, Warriors, and Giants. And her days of exercising, watching Jack La Lane on Tv, and me always interrupting her. And more and more, but I have to stop. Just know she was a wonderful mother, full of Unconditional love, for not only her kids, but her relatives and friends as well. Shout out to Letty Barradas(R.I.P.), her bestie over the years, who I'm sure has greeted her already.
She was a strong woman, who battled Parkinson's, and later Cancer, and was still the vibrant firecracker through to the end.
She joins my father, Hollis Frelot Jr, her children, Hollis the 3rd, Kelvin, and Holly, her siblings Oren, Warren, Marie, and Rena, and her parents Isaac and Alice, in heaven now. She leaves behind her older sister Mae, and her children, Frederick and Vondra, to continue her legacy of showing love and caring.
I will miss her horribly but now I do know this. After having her as my mom, I now know what it's like to be by an Angel. Love you Momma. Your Baby Boy and Little Girl will always miss you.