To All the Moms I've Known

Mom Vi (1911-1998)

My friend Mark once told me that my mom would

definitely be a Duchess if America had royalty.

I agree. She always liked going first-class.

However, she was born in America to humble parents.

She married during the Great Depression and

worked hard all of her life.

She knew how to scrimp and save.

She lived the American Dream.

A handsome husband with a good job.

A house in the suburbs.

Four healthy children who all graduated from college.

Being upwardly mobile was important.

Her life was probably easier than her parents.

It was unquestionably less problematic than her grandparents.

Which is not to say there weren't hardships and trials.

There were plenty of those.

Mom wanted only the best for her children.

She wanted us to be happy, fulfilled, successful.

She wanted us to believe in God

and live by the Golden Rule.

Mom liked to talk and appreciated an attentive audience.

She was a skillful story teller.

She might have been an actress or teacher--

in a different era, when mom's worked.

Sister Gail (1937-2007)

My sister was my second mom.

She was twelve years older than I,

but always acted twenty years older.

Once while she was baby-sitting me,

I threw a tantrum--big time.

She dragged me to the tub,

threw me in kicking and screaming.

Then she turned on the cold water, on my head.

I think that was my last tantrum.

Another time when she was incharge,

I got hit in the head with a rock-missile

thrown by an angry neighbor boy.

I ran home with blood gushing,

rushing down my face.

I couldn't see myself, but I'll

never forget the look on Gail's face.

No mother's expression could have been

more frightened.

That's when I cried.

Gail had no children of her own,

but she helped mother me.

I looked to her for advice, counsel, direction.

She was a noble mother.

Mom's Mom--Rebecca "Mumpsie" (1886-1945)

My maternal grandmother died before I was born.

Though I never knew her, I know I

share some of her traits.

Unlike my mother, Mumpsie did not like attention.

She hated having her picture taken.

I understand completely.

Born in Logan, Utah to an English farmer father

and a Swedish mother, Rebecca was the middle of nine

siblings, but also had nine half siblings.

Rebecca learned to blend in, not stand out.

She learned to share and be a care giver.

She raised five sons and one daughter.

Three of her sons went to war in the Pacific.

All returned safely before Mumpsie

died of breast cancer.

Mom's Maternal Grandmother--Enga (1856-1923)

My mother was born in her grandmother Enga's home.

Grandma Enga was born in Sweden as Ingar Hansdotter.

Taking her father's surname, as is the custom in America,

Ingar became Ingar Anderson when she immigrated.

For some reason, no one in Logan could spell

Ingar, so she became Enga.

Mom remembered Enga, but couldn't recall

a Swedish accent which I find incredible

since Ingar didn't know a word of English

when she immigrated at the age of nineteen.

Generations of women have effected who I am.

I love them all for making my life possible.

For the lessons they taught small children,

for all the clothes they washed and ironed,

for all the food they cooked,

for all tears they wiped--

Thank you to these wonderful women.

And thank you
to the next generation of Mom's in our family--

My nieces and my nephews' wives

Dan, Niece Angie, Alaina

Closed before it Opened

18 pairs of Vi's Earring Collection

My mother collected earrings. She never pierced her ears, so the earrings were all clip-on or screw-on. At one time she had over 250 pairs from all over the world. Whenever friends and family traveled, they brought back a pair of earrings for Vi.

My mother lived with me for six months before she died. This was after she broke her hip and had a stroke, then a heart attack. Her earring collection moved in with her in a large flat box she had always stored under her bed. The earrings she wore daily were kept in a dresser drawer in jewelry boxes along with necklaces, pins and bracelets.

After Vi died I made "Shadow Boxes" for her five granddaughters. Each box was different, made with items each girl had individually chosen. Earrings, necklaces, dried roses, perfume bottles, lacy hankies, gloves, photos, compacts, glasses--artistically displayed with a lace doily in the background.

The daughters and granddaughters also chose earrings and china pieces they wanted to keep.

This all happened twelve years ago after mother died. I boxed up the earrings and jewelry in a large RubberMaid container and kept it in the basement.

I toyed for a long time about whether or not to break up the collection of earrings. I found a fun web site where you can open your own shop to sell vintage items or personal creations. . . and Viola's Cupboard at Etsy.com was born. It was going to be my creative outlet for the year. Plus it was going to help make a little money, hopefully.

One of Vi's many necklaces

I rushed out to get appraisals at the jewelers, bought displays trays and photography backdrops. I was excited to get started.

After the displays were set-up, I photographed all of the items. There were seven trays with eighteen earrings in each, or one-hundred-twenty-six pairs of earrings.

My sister Gail (also deceased) owned a set of Nancy Ann Storybook dolls from the 1940s. While I was growing up, they were displayed in a built-in, corner cabinet with glass shelves in our basement family room. We knew the dolls were to look at ONLY, not for play, though I did sneak one or two out occasionally. They've been wrapped in tissue in a box for the last eighteen years ever since my childhood home was sold.

Nancy Ann Storybook Doll circa 1945

My online shop at Etsy was the perfect place to sell the twenty dolls. (Oh, what a great idea! What else can I find to sell?)

I've had my mother's china cabinet in my dining room for the past twelve years. It is filled with my grandmother's Haviland china (she had twenty-four 5 piece place settings circa 1903). My mother had as small tea cup and saucer collection of various patterns from different manufacturers. What to sell?

One of the Tea Cup and Saucer Collection

Instead of being cooped up on the bottom shelf of my 1960s china hutch, I thought the cups should belong to someone who would display them or use them. I thought the dolls should belong to someone who would love them and display them. Ditto for the earrings.

Well, I figured I'd better give family members one more chance to become owners of the vintage belongings BEFORE I put the photos on Etsy. Bad decision.

I e-mailed photographs to Vi's grand kids, my sister in Australia and my sister-in-law in New Mexico. I think you know the rest of the story. Yup, everyone wanted the things! My "Down-Under" sister was horrified that I would break up the sets, especially for financial gain. I didn't want to upset her during her mission, so I've boxed everything up again and it is all being moved to my niece's house until my sister gets home.

So much for my entrepreneurial efforts. The wind is out of my sails. The shop is closed for business before it ever opened.

Earring Display at Relief Society Fashion Show

Just for Laughs

It is usually geriatrics' hour when I go to the Lions' Gym to exercise. I was on the stationery bicycle, sweating away at 85 RPMs and listening/watching CNN on the tube above my bike, when an elderly woman shuffled up with a walker and climbed onto the bike next to me. She was wearing a blue terry cloth bathroom with flannel PJ's underneath and fluffy pink bedroom slippers on her feet. There were a couple of pink plastic rollers left in her white hair. I snickered to myself, then thought, "Oh well, whatever gets you to the gym."

The incident made me think of my dear departed mother, who was quite the character. After my father died in 1985, mom had both of her knees replaced with new titanium joints. She learned to walk again, but always used a cane. Then she had a stroke which left her weak on one side and she needed a walker from then on out.

After the stroke, we, her children, thought mom would be better off in an Adult Retirement Center, than in her own home. We moved her to a second floor apartment at Highland Cove, where she lived for six years.

The elevator to her floor was down her hallway, left turn and down another hallway. She would shuffle along with her walker, get on the elevator and go to the first floor dining room for her lunch each day.

One day my daughter and I went to pick up mom to take her to lunch. We walked down the hallway at a snail's pace as she tottered along with her walker. Slowly we turned the corner and saw an elderly gentleman pushing the elevator button. As he got on, he saw us approaching and gallantly held the door. I waved him on and told him we'd catch the next one. My mom glared at me and yelled, "Hold the elevator, we're coming!"

"Mom, we'll be awhile. Let him go," I said as I rolled my eyes toward my daughter.

"I can hurry!" mom glared again. Promptly, my eighty-three-year-old mother, picked up her walker and carried it as she trotted to the elevator! My daughter and I couldn't stop laughing!

Tribute to Mom

Viola May Kloepfer

She was a beautiful baby, the only girl in a family with five brothers. She was her father's princess, his pride and joy. Born July 6, 1911 in Logan, Utah to Frank P. Kloepfer and Rebecca Partington, Vi was a firecracker from birth to death.

She was a true American, a Heinz 57 variety, with a great assortment of herbs and spices from her ancestors. Her paternal grandfather came to the U.S. as a young stone mason from tiny Altleiningen, Germany. He married a sophisticated young lady from Upnor, Kent, England. Vi's maternal grandfather came to America with his family as a child from Preston, Lancashire, England. He later married a young woman from Ostra Odarslov, Malmohus, Sweden. All in all, it was a wonderful mix of nationalities, personalities and traditions.

Front right corner - Frank and Rebecca Kloepfer with Vi on lap
Streetcar circa 1913

Viola grew up in Boise, Idaho and graduated from Boise High School in 1929, where her emphasis was in business courses. Her father and brothers were sportsmen: hunters, fisherman, athletes. Her mother was a homemaker who sewed, cooked and canned fruits and vegetables for the winter.

Senior Class Boise High School

After high school, Vi worked as a secretary for two years before moving to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah and to find an LDS husband. (Her father was a Bishop in Boise at the time.) While at the U., Vi lived near campus with the Frank Eardley family. She was introduced to my father by his uncle Frank.

Elva Eardley and Vi Kloepfer


Vi - U. of U. Coed 1932

Kenneth Eardley had just returned from an LDS Mexican Mission and was a student in engineering at the University, a member of Pi Kappa Phi faternity. Vi and Ken fell in love and were married June 12, 1933 in the Salt Lake Temple.

Ken Eardley

Since Vi and Ken married during the Depression, it was necessary for Vi to work several years before starting her family. She was a secretary for the Dean of Students at the U. and then worked as a secretary at South East Furniture in Sugarhouse.

Vi with Steve and Gail - The War Years

As a mother, Viola was devoted to homemaking, teaching her children and helping her husband build his business, which she did with love and confidence. She always kept a "neat as a pin" household, her children were always clean, well-dressed and for the most part good mannered.

Vi, JoAnn, Steve and Gail

New Home in Holladay

When Ken and Vi bought a new home in Holladay in 1949, it was on a half acre lot. Vi literally "dug in" and became a master gardener. In the early years, she had 12 fruit trees and raspberry bushes which kept her busy with canning just like her mother. Later, she had about fifty rose bushes, hundreds of iris and daisies which she enjoyed arranging in colorful boutiques.

I was Vi's youngest and when I started Junior High School, mom went back to work as the Personnel Manager at the ZCMI in the new Cottonwood Mall. She did the hiring, training and firing for about nine years. Always sociable, Vi was happy to be back in public service and in the public lime-light. She planned and decorated for most of the ZCMI company parties and dinners.

In later years, mom spent time babysitting grandkids, golfing, bowling and gardening. She loved getting the family together on holidays and birthdays, especially when cake and ice cream, presents, and fire works were involved!

Mom loved traveling--going to Ireland, England, Scotland and Paris with her daughter-in-law Sheryl, to the Bahamas with Ken, Steve and Sheryl, and Hawaii with just Ken. Trips to Lake Powell on the house boat with kids and grandkids were big hits with her.

Although she experienced many health problems in her latter years, mom remained young at heart. (While living in an assisted-living center after a stroke at 80, she was famous for saying she didn't belong there with all those old people!) After suffering from a heart-attack and then breaking her hip, Bill and I bought a condominium in Holladay where she could move in with us. She passes away a year later in 1998 at the age of 86, after a long life of service and love.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

We love you.