Joan Carol Hadsall

In my mom’s 80 years of life, she was everything to me. She was always there through thick and thin. If anyone ever needed anything she was always there to help. Throughout her life my mom was the caretaker for everybody and anybody asked her help. She also liked to take care of peoples pets too. My mom was always offering to see if she could do anything. She did have her hands full too. Growing up and trying to raise me and my two brothers couldn't have been easy. My brothers had muscular dystrophy and definitely had special needs. My mom was always there for me to make sure that I had “Mom Time” also. She was the one who helped with school projects. Even though she liked girlie things like cooking, baking, crocheting, painting and gardening, she always tried to get me to learn about what she was doing. I must say, that she was very good at all of them. I still like to cook and garden today because of her.

She was never afraid to get her hands dirty. Whether it was an after school project, homework or helping me to earn a Boy Scout Merit Badge, she was there. If I ever brought a pet home, she would always teach me how to take care of them whether it was my dog, fish, snakes, birds, frogs lizards or guinea pig. Sometimes our house must have looked like a pet store. She loved to fish and taught me quite a bit about how to catch, clean and cook our catches.

Later as I got older my mom never stopped worrying about me. I guess that is the one job that moms can never quit. In college she was always trying to make sure that I had extra money. When I joined the Army as a cadet, she intercepted my paperwork from the mailman with my orders to attend Basic Training. Boy was she mad!!! She asked me what I had done. She was the one that I asked to pin my Second Lieutenant bars on my uniform when I became an officer. When I was in the Army she would always send care packages….especially when I was in “Desert Storm”. My parents attended every veteran support group and rally for the vets. I still remember the photograph with all of the ribbons and yellow flowers adorning their house in support of my deployment. I think that her and my dad were proud of me just a little bit.

She sure loved the trips to the casino with my dad. When my dad passed, she still liked the casino and soon became friends with people who shared her interest.

She was a ferocious reader and especially loved a good Stephen King novel or love story. Her interest in reading was passed on to me. When I was young she would always laugh because I would ask her how she could be reading when I didn’t hear her talk. She would just say that she’s talking in her head.

She also would always watch old classic movies, scary movies or science fiction but she always thought that the latter simply the best.

Mom always loved music and always encouraged me to learn to play an instrument. In her later years she really loved Rod Stewart and many different country music artists.

Throughout the years she loved playing pinochle with her card club and enjoyed her friendships with the club members. My mom cherished her friendships with the many people who came in and out of her life.

She always worried that I wasn’t married. Finally the day came and she was thrilled when I met my wife. She was finally going to get the daughter in law of her dreams. Still, she worried about us. Did we have enough money? She worried that we didn’t spend enough time together due to our conflicting jobs schedules. She also felt bad that my wife Jenny and I couldn’t spend holidays together because of my work. As she got older and sicker she tried desperately not to burden me with her ailments even though I would get mad at her when she didn’t tell me what was going on with her. Till the end, she never wanted to be a bother to me.

I want her to know how proud I was to call her Mom.