Mom’s Eulogy
Along with being a devoted Catholic and dedicated mother, mom was the ringleader of a band of egg pickers, to the tune of 30,000 eggs a day. She would sit at the end of the egg line and run the on and off switch…………..which she insisted needed to stay running so we would get done in a reasonable amount of time. If too many eggs were coming through to her, she would yell at the egg pickers (us kids) to get back to work. As you can imagine, lots of chitter chatter, discussion and even some arguments. (imagine that, with 12 siblings, do you think there was some bickering that would go on, of course there was) any way, mom would throw eggs at whoever was arguing. One particular time, mom missed her target and hit me right on the side of the face. That was the only time she ever came up and apologized and wiped the egg off.
Some other fun facts about mom:
Lots of others got to help with the egg picking, friends, neighbors and grandchildren, my oldest daughter Becca reminded me she remembers getting to pick a box of cereal from moms cereal stash when she helped pick eggs
SHOW OF HANDS IF YOU HAVE EVER PICKED EGGS WITH OUR FAMILY
Another thing mom was known for was her love of watching and feeding the birds. She has had a bird feeder that has made the move with her for over 50 years
She also had a habit of cutting ex spouses out of family pictures, so the running joke was, who would dare stand near the outside edge during family pictures?
When we were kids, mom always let us select our favorite supper and our birthday pie
Mom always called every child, grandchild and great grandchild on their birthdays and sang happy birthday, whether it was in person or on voicemail. At the end, that was about 100 birthday and anniversary calls throughout the year.
Mom always enjoyed playing checkers with the grandchildren…………and beating them so they would learn to be gracious losers. In fact, just in the last couple months or so she was whipping my brother kenny’s youngest boy Nathan, who is only 6 years old. Talk about no mercy!
Mom also enjoyed dancing and playing cards
SPIN THE LETTER FOR THE NEXT PART *********
Mom had an incredible habit of writing around the edges of the card when she ran out of room on the bottom
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Another grandchild memory was the Christmas eve nativity scene parade. Each statue in the nativity scene was brought up and placed by one of the grand children while we sang Away in a manger or Silent night.
Pause
I would say mom’s biggest impression she left on me was her unwavering, devoted faith
For those of you that did not know, mom’s intention was to join a religious order, become a nun, right up until dad came back from the service and asked her out on a date again.
They had originally met before dad went into the service. As mom tells the story, it was her sisters and a group of friends that would go out on a group date, but mom always got stuck in the middle front seat, next to dad who was driving because he was the oldest.
When dad came back from the service, moms red slacks caught the eye of dad as he was playing a baseball game, and 13 kids later, I guess we know how that turned out.
Mom was very involved with the church from being President of DCCW, an active member of Christian Mothers, a CCD teacher, An usher at church, Catholic Aid breakfast, and the Benton County Rosary group
Mom also volunteered as donut maker for the Senior center in Little Falls as well as being a part of the Morrison County gift giving program
I ask that you remember mom for her Devoted Faith and dedication to her Family
[Tammy Reads:]
In closing I would like to include this thought...
"You can shed tears that she is gone
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,
or you can be full of the love she shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow BECAUSE of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she's gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back;
or you can do what she'd want: Smile,
Open your eyes, Love and Go On."
Search: - Betty Ann - (Theisen) Zwilling Cichon (1939 - 2021)
Obituary, Guest Book, and Video Tribute available online: www.williamsdingmann.com
Available in PDF - 3 pages
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