Happy Mother's Day article

 I wrote this short essay about my mom in our mission zone newsletter:

The Collections Zone May 2021 

“Your life is made of two dates and a dash. Make the most of the dash.” ― Linda Ellis 

Eileen Jane Owen Giberson (October 19, 1934 - February 5, 1995). To you this name and dates have little meaning but to me she was everything. She is my mom.

My mom was raised in the valleys of Western Oregon where she and nearby friends could roam in the forests and play in the streams. As a teenager her family moved to Portland where she attended high school and then left to attend a small college for her first year and then to “faraway” BYU for her second year, being the first of her family to attend university. She met and married my dad there in the traditional “BYU” marriage. I was their first out of eight children. 

We grew up in the desert of Eastern Washington and then in the high plains of the Panhandle of Texas—both very different places than the green of western Oregon, yet she thrived in both places. She was a true friend to everyone, and she and my dad had a great network of friends and often gathered with them to play games and to socialize. She was an active member of the Church, a pianist, an organist, and a somewhat reluctant choir director on several occasions. She was a writer of poems and essays and kept a journal during her married years. She frequently was asked to write programs and scripts for roadshows and Relief Society events. She was a gifted speaker and was often asked to speak in Church meetings and for special occasions. She loved reading and books. She loved maps and taught us to use maps as we traveled on family vacations. 

She was the “number 243” heart transplant patient at the Stanford University Hospital in June of 1985 which extended her life another 9 ½ years for which we are so grateful. It allowed her to meet four of my five children although only my oldest two have actual memories of her. 

My mom was an amazing mom and a great human being. How do I teach my children about her? By sharing her stories with them—the ones she has written herself and the ones that I have of her. I have a family blog and also a Grandchildren Facebook group where I can share stories about my mom and others with my children and grandchildren. How do you teach your posterity about your mom—the type of woman she was and what she taught you? Are they recording their own memories of her as their grandmother? 

For Mother’s Day this year, I challenge you to record a story about your mom and share it with your family. If you want to go “the extra mile,” put it and a photo into your mother’s FamilySearch profile. Tell your children how your mom “made the most of the dash” which was/is her mortal life. 

                                                                                                         --Sister Judy Hall