one of my favorite mom stories is that after she no longer had a computer and I was tracking her investments she said to me- "don't send me updates unless the market is up, I never look at it unless it is good news." that is so my mother! my father used to say she was Pollyanna and not realistic but I can tell you she was a much happier person for remaining focused on the positive.
she told me that she and her friend Fay always loved the saying "it is what it is" because of the truth contained within it. both faced challenges in their lives and yet just dealt with them and did what they had to do. today one of her friends sent her regrets for the luncheon and she ended with this statement "she was a good solider." that she was and it made me cry.
she met and mastered life's challenges with grace and dignity and a positive attitude that can serve as a model for all of us.
Alice Jane Haight Heltman
"Jane"
January 21, 1930 - December 22, 2010
a girl scout at camp
on a trip with her grandmother's sister and a second cousin
at a fraternity party with my dad around 1948
at college at Miami University
a wedding photo - her sister, Phyllis as maid of honor - November 1951
Phyllis and Jane in December 1953
for a phone company newsletter - as a young married
with my baby brother Jeff in 1959
at a beatnik party in the neighborhood - circa 1961
as a salt miner on our trip to Germany
at her granddaughter Natalie's christening
at her 75th birthday party with Jeff, Phil and me
with her friends Sally and Fay at 75th celebration
and so tomorrow I will speak of her life and leave a little of her behind with her friends on the island. and we will go on- just like she always did - good soldiers in the march against time...
