With my mom I always felt loved and safe.  She taught so many life lessons with her daily navigations through the ups and downs of living  a full life.  Thanks Mom.

Just looking out my window and remembering how clean my mom kept her windows. She would come back from Florida in the spring and every year she would wash every window inside and out and she probably had 40 Windows. She was such a little fireball of energy. I just wish I could share with her some of our latest recipes. She would love an air fryer.

My first memories of my Aunt Ellen began around 1944 when I was 4 years old.  She was young, beautiful, full of fun and seemed to be as smitten with me as I her.  Best of all, she was close by living with my grandma & grandpa waiting for her husband (my uncle) to return from the war.  Much of that time we spent together.  Many times I would spend the night with her sleeping in the same bed and fall asleep with her hand on my tummy.  I accompanied her to the Methodist Church where she enrolled me in their  Sunday School Program.  I continued to attend into my teens.  She knew how much I loved playing 'dress-up' and how I would clomp around in my mother's too big shoes.  Well,one day she presented me with a brand new pair of 'RED' high heeled shoes that actually fit my feet!!  I was thrilled!!!  When my uncle returned from the war they moved to Lansing, Mi where my uncle was attending Michigan State College.  I would often ride with them to Lansing in their small car with no backseat so I would lay on the floor behind the front seat which was quite uncomfortable but was well worth any discomfort to be able to spend the week with them.  After they welcomed their daughter Patricia I remember pushing her in the buggy up & down the sidewalk in front of their home there in Lansing.  I have so many dear memories that I will always cherish.  Rest in peace Aunt Ellen.

Mom loved popcorn, and it was continually on the menu throughout her entire life. The popcorn was never commercially purchased. It was only prepared at home in a special popcorn pot, buttered and salted. Sometimes a solo act,  occasionally,  served with a fruit salad, but always delicious.

Mom always made Christmas special with her many varieties of Christmas cookies. She made little green Christmas trees flavored like mint, brown chocolate flower shaped cookies and pink almond flavored spritz. We especially loved the almond crescents which seem to be devoured  if left anywhere accessible. She had to hide them in order to have enough to put in her giveaway  boxes. There was always the peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies and thumb prints with raspberry jelly on top, which added to the fun. 
We often searched her closet and anywhere else we could think of for where she hid the Christmas presents and tried to carefully look inside without disturbing the wrapping paper.
Her gift for decorating transformed our home into thrill and wonder.  I loved playing with the little manger set by the stairs or I could sit and imagine for hours. She also had a little ice-skating scene which delighted me. While varieties of Holly and Pine-needle boughs and berries decorated the staircase and cards hung from the walls.  She made it fraught with joy and anticipation and crowded it with love. The best of moms, she is missed.  

When my brothers and sisters and I were children, a long time ago, we would pile in the station wagon and spend a long day driving 1,000 miles from Long Island, NY to Newaygo, Michigan.  With all seven of the family in the car it could get really tiresome.  Mom (Ellen Taylor) was a pro at keeping us occupied.  She broke out homemade cookies; a few hours into the trip she found comic books for all of us:  She initiated Out of State license plate games and generally made the difference between a tedious, somewhat miserable drive  into much more memorable experience.  We especially enjoyed the in-car lunches she carefully distributed.  That fried chicken kept us well- behaved before during and after the meal.  Thanks, Mom for a great childhood.  

OBITUARY

Ellen Marie Taylor

August 15, 1923 – May 30, 2021

Garrett Funeral Home

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