Henrietta Spanos

Henrietta (Tiggelaar) Spanos, formerly of Homewood, IL, passed away on July 12, 2013 at age 90 in West Des Moines, Iowa. Henrietta was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and aunt. She was preceded in death by her first husband Tuly Gemignani (1969) and second husband James W. Spanos (2002). She is survived by her children Jim (Natalie) Gemignani of Maryland Heights, MO, Dale (Diane) Gemignani of Beloit, WI and Robin (Jerry) Schmidt of Urbandale, IA; eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren; brother and brother-in-law. Visitation: Monday, July 15 from 4-8 p.m. at Chapel Hill Garden South Funeral Home, 11333 S. Central Ave., Oak Lawn, Ill. Memorial funeral service: Tuesday, July 16 at 11 a.m. at Chapel Hill Garden South Funeral Home. Interment to follow. Info, 708-636-1200 or www.chapelhillgardenssouth.com

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REMEMBERING

MOM

First, Robin, Dale and I would like to thank all of you for coming to help us celebrate our mother’s life. We feel extremely blessed to have you all with us today.

I would like to share some of our thoughts and memories of our mom.

We will never forget…our mother’s face, especially when we all, including our spouses and all of her grandchildren, surprised her for her 70th birthday in Rogers, Arkansas. Probably best not to do that after age 70, she was in such shock.

We will never forget…

• the sound of her voice comforting and consoling us after our father suddenly passed away at a young age.

• We will never forget the sound of her voice encouraging each of us and congratulating each of us on our graduation and wedding days.

We will never forget…the gentleness of her touch and those hugs just at the moments you really needed one. And none of her grandchildren will forget grandma’s famous “foot rides”.

We will never forget… her strong devotion to her family, caring for our individual needs, providing strength, guidance and encouragement in a quiet and unassuming manner.

All of these memories let us know we were loved.

We will never forget... how she demonstrated to us how to be independent and how to meet the many challenges life presented, including the loss of her first husband, Tuly, suddenly becoming a single parent, finding a job to support her family, and preparing us for our journey into our adult lives. She rose to the occasion with strength and courage yet again after the passing of her second husband, Bill, and the positive decision to move to Des Moines to be closer to family.

We will never forget…the stories she told

• Of growing up on a truck farm in Evergreen Park, Illinois, pulling and bunching up onions to be taken to market.

• The story of how when Dale was a young boy and came to the back door with green lips, thinking he had gotten into some green ant poison, only to find out later that it was just green kool aid

• The story of how when she visited her grandmother’s house not far away she would pretend to be asleep when it was time to go home so her grandmother would just tell her parents to let her stay the night and she would be treated to eggs for breakfast the following morning.

• The stories of being a fast pitch softball pitcher or that even at only a petite 5 feet tall, she played basketball. Surely this has inspired several of our own sports interests.

• The story she told of how she and our dad used to steam up a few car windows in their day

We will never forget…the traditions she handed down by making the holidays special and a joy for all of us with all the detailed preparation, including time honored recipes such as lemon jello with shredded carrots and crushed pineapple topped with cream cheese sauce, and of course katouffles, homemade ravioli and spaghetti sauce. And don’t forget the time it took to hang all of those icicles on the Christmas tree, one by one, so they wouldn’t look clumped together.

These stories and traditions let us know who we are.

We will never forget the lessons she taught…

o Teaching us to dance while watching Lawrence Welk on TV

o To be proud of our accomplishments and strive for excellence in everything we do

o The importance of a higher education, since she wanted to be a teacher but never got the opportunity

o It’s okay to spin around with your first pair of heels, even if you grind a hole in the linoleum in your bedroom floor, after all, Robin was the one that was going to have to live with the floor in her bedroom.

o You really should travel with more than change in your pocket when flying home from college

o You need to let your own children make their own mistakes, even though it hurts you probably more that it hurts them

o How to play card games like “hand and foot” and the endless types of solitaire

o She taught us a love of reading. Did you know that at times she would be reading 3 books at the same time?

o Above all, we will never forget the lesson she taught us of not to underestimate the time it takes for your mother to get groceries and how you are in big trouble when you decide to play on the garage roof

with your brother and his friend and she returns home from the store and catches you still on the roof.

We will never forget how she taught all of us the importance of family, no matter how far the miles may be between us

We will never forget the things she stood for…patience, kindness, a positive attitude no matter the circumstances, being grateful for the little and bigs things in life such as love, family, good health, education, tolerance, a sense of humor and how to enjoy life.

These are her gifts and legacy to us.

We will never forget and we will always know that we will honor her every day in how we live our lives and who we are because of our mother.

So we will mourn her passing, but we will also celebrate and honor her life as she celebrated life, thankful that God has given us this wonderful gift.