In Memory of My Mother, Lillian Alleen (Martak) Leonard - by Sandra (Leonard) Polvinale

In Memory of My Mother, Lillian Alleen (Martak) Leonard - by Sandra (Leonard) Polvinale

What moves through us is a silence,

a quiet sadness,

a longing for one more day,

one more word,

one more touch.

We may not understand

why you left this earth so soon,

or why you left before

we were ready to say good-bye;

but little by little,

we begin to remember

not just that you died,

but that you lived,

and that your life gave us memories

too beautiful to forget.

Now personal memories from me of my sweet Momma Chic.... "The show must go on!"

• My Mother told me in a time of great sorrow years ago she had an experience with Jesus. He took her into HIS Sacred Heart and held her there.... quietly an d soothed her for hours. It may have been a second, but it lasted for her so long she never forgot it. She said I felt warmth all over me and like I was in a Mother's womb, yet, I was with my Jesus.

• My Mother kept her sense of humor until the end. She always made my friends laugh. In fact, she was in the Miss MD Beauty Pagent at the Senator Theater doing her stand up comic act, when her nephew... either David or Bobby Martak said "Go ahead Aunt Alleen make a fool of yourself!" She laughed so hard and never forgot that! Mom was a late in life child, so her nephews were close to her age.

•My Mom told me when I was grieving her last year with this illness, that she would be with us stronger in heaven and do more for us in heaven than she could ever do here. I feel a quiet peace knowing I can talk to her and she is helping me now. I pray and talk to her often.

•Mom prayed her devotions daily..... she prayed the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet with EWTN every day. People would ask her to pray fro them and she put them on her "prayer list". I would laugh because Mom always called EWTN....WETN.... I never corrected her, it was just cute. She offered up her sufferings for all of us.

•Our Mother was generous to a fault... Mom was in the hospital one time and her room mate had only a few if any teeth... she so wanted to buy her a set of false teeth! I said Mom! They are expensive! She just wanted to help her. The woman didn't want false teeth but the fact Mom wanted to help her tickled me.

•When my Mother stayed over night with my Aunt Inga, she would cover Mom's feet up and tuck her in bed. So cute. Aunt Inga was much older. she was Uncle Clyde's world war II bride. She got too hot with the covers on her all the time and would stick her feet or one foot out of the blankets to cool off. Well, Aunt Inga kept coming in and tucking her foot in over and over! hahah Not too many people knew Mom liked her feet OUT of the covers.

•When Mom went to a dance with a midshipmen once, she got home a little late. My Grandfather was very strict on her coming in at a certain time, so she thought she would sneak in a window......well she got caught because her HOOP under her gown got stuck in the window! she was hanging there! hahahah

•Mom always did things in a big way! Even when she baked her apple pies she would double the crust. It was so big and heavy it fell off on th e trays..... fine for us... we ate them as shortbread cookies with an apple flavor!

• My Mother taught us how to do art work all around the dining room table as a family with real grown up art supplies!. We did art shows as a family. The Leonard's ruled! ribbons for all of us came home. She was a professional artist. Selling about 200 paintings and giving them away in her life time.

•Mom always loved listening to my poetry and songs and seeing what art I did recently.... Mom was a poet, cartoonist, illustrator, fine artist, opera singer, Beauty Pagent contestant, comic, the life of any party, the coolest Mom on the block, all her kid's best friends, and one thing for sure,

•My Mother gave us the gift of faith in Jesus Christ . She converted to the Catholic faith due to Fatima and My Uncle Buckie Miller's example... My Aunt Annette's 1st husband that died too young. Mom, like the great Handel that wrote Handel's Messiah, KNEW her SAVIOR liveth! She sacrificed everything fro us kids, even the ultimate sacrifice of going to our Lord 35 mins before her Baby girl Monica and Mike's birthdays, because she knew Monica was distressed! The ultimate love of a good Mother.

•Mom always made sure Dad and all the kids had a home cooked meal every night with dessert!

•Mom always made everyone of us, including my Dad, have the best Christmases and Birthdays ever! Of course with the help of St. Nick. ( Dad dressed up like santa)

• Even when she would be in the hospital, she would make us gifts in art activities to bring home for her babies.

•Mom made hand made ties and vests for Dad and was the best wife a woman can be.

•When my Aunt Betty fell on hard times with many children, she made sure the sisters of Charity knew to bring food and gifts to their house for Christmas to be extra special. My cousin Danny never forgot that and went into missionary work due to this.

•and finally, my mother was a character and everyone loved her for that!

•Mom was so excited to come home and die in her own condo, in her beautiful room, with family around and Hospice nursing care.... She flung her arms and hands wildly one morning after Monica and I were dog tired from all night vigil, and said " THIS is the way to go!" "I'm at home with my HD TV, my family here and great food!" Monica and I laughed quietly an d groaned a bit being exhausted. The sun had not even come up yet! She was like my rooster crowing. hahaha I could go on and on, but want room for someone else's memories

--Sandi L Polvinale