(Before my talk, Jimmy Cooper
(nephew) sang “The Wind Beneath My Wings,” and Kirsten Rosenberg
(granddaughter) sang “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”)
That was one of my mom’s favorite
songs. She played it on the piano all
the time. I would like to thank my
cousin Jimmy for his song. He is a truck
driver and he drove clear from California to sing that song today. My mom made her wishes known of the things she
would like in her funeral, and she wanted a lot of music. She wanted Jimmy to sing that song and it
would have made her so happy to hear her granddaughters sing today in her
funeral.
She asked that I would speak. Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t like
to speak, I would rather sing. With singing, you know the words and the music,
and once you start to sing, you can usually get through it.
I feel it is an honor to say a few
things about my mom. I hope that I am able to tell you the things that I would
like to say about her because she is someone that I admired and loved so much. If there is anyone I would like to be like it
is my mother.
Whenever someone dies we talk about
their good qualities and the things we admire about them. I’d like to take this
one step further and say, what is something we can learn from the life of Faye
Rosenberg? I have written down a few
things.
Be happy
Love others
Love your family
I’m going to begin by telling you
something about my mom that many of you probably don’t know. I think it is something that shaped her character
and made her to be the caring, loving person that she was. When she was ten
years old, she became lame and it was discovered that she had a hip disease
called Perthese. This disease is a
deterioration of the hip joint and it causes limping and pain. For a period of about five years she went
through many kinds of treatment. She was
bedridden at times, she was in traction for awhile, and for a time when she was
bed ridden, she had a full body cast from her chest down to her toes. All this time she was on crutches and was not
allowed to walk. She also wasn’t able to
go to school, she was home with her mother. She wrote in her own words about this time, “This was a very hard time for me, but now as
I look back on it, what a privilege it was to spend time with my dear mother. She and I had lots of fun together, she
taught me to sing, also to play the piano, to sew, and she taught me all my school
subjects in 6th grade. I
loved my mom dearly. I like the saying
of President Lincoln, ”For all that I am or ever hope to be I owe it to my
angel mother.” She gave her all to me throughout my entire life. Faith of my mother and my family played a
great part in my ever walking again.”
I like this saying too.
On her last visit to the specialist
in Salt Lake City, the doctor told her she might never walk again. When she returned to her hometown of
Panguitch, she had a Priesthood blessing and she was promised that she would
walk again, and that she would become a mother in Zion.
Little by little she began the process
of learning to walk again, first by getting rid of one crutch and then the
other. Her brother also encouraged her
to walk. He was a
World War II soldier serving in Europe. He told her that when he came home again he
wanted to see her walking.
My dad told me a story about this time in her
life. My mom went to dance with her
mother. She was about 14 years old and this
was her first grown up dance. She was
sitting on a bench with her mother and a young man that was a friend of hers
came up to her and asked her if she would like to dance. She put the crutch under her bench and stood
up. With the help of this friend she
danced for the first time in her life since she was a little girl. She leaned
on him, and with his assistance she was able to dance. She wrote what a thrill it was for her to be
part of life once more.
She was able to walk again without
crutches but her hip limited her activities the rest of her life. I know that her hip caused her pain, but she
seldom complained about that. Her hip eventually
deteriorated to the point that she had to have hip replacement surgery. She dealt with not
being able to do many physical things her whole life.
She suffered and she had a lot of pain, but she rarely complained. She
was hardly ever irritable because of her condition. She had a lot of other
health problems too, but she endured all this with dignity and with very little
complaining.
I think the fact that she was
handicapped part of her life shaped her character into being the caring and
loving person that she was. She felt
compassion for people that were in similar circumstances.
I remember whenever we were some place
and she saw someone who was crippled, she would stop to talk to them and was
always kind. Whenever she saw someone in
a wheelchair, she stopped to have some kind words for them and sometimes if the
situation was right, she encouraged them to have faith that they might walk
again. She taught me to have compassion for people who were in those situations
and to never make fun of someone that was crippled. She had compassion for anyone
that was suffering in any way.
My mother was a very happy person and
she was a very fun person to be around. She had a great sense of humor. I wish
I could repeat some of the stories she told and the funny things she did, but I
wouldn’t do them justice. So many people I have talked to the last few days
have repeated the fun times they had with her.
She was the life of the party and she liked it that way.
My friends were always welcome in our home. She loved them and they loved her. She liked to make people laugh. It wasn’t
hard to love my mom because she always made you feel good.
One of the things she loved most in
life was music. I remember Mom once saying
she couldn’t imagine a world without music in it.
I remember spending many hours at the
side of the piano singing while my mom played the piano for me. She was always singing or humming a
song. Early in her life she began
singing duets in programs. Sometimes she
sang with her sister or a friend, sometimes her mother or her brother. She sang with the group The Joy Singers. I asked one of them how long they sang
together and they said about 20 years.
Singing gave her a lot of joy and satisfaction in her life.
Anyone who lived near her they could
probably hear her playing the piano almost on a daily basis. They could probably
hear her playing in the afternoon for hours. As I mentioned before, her mother taught her
to play the piano. She wasn’t an
accomplished pianist but she had a beautiful touch. Another gift that she had
was that she could “play by ear.” I
thought she was a beautiful pianist, and whenever I sang, she was my choice for
a pianist. I can’t tell you how many
times she played that piano as my accompanist and I stood next to it singing in
a program or in sacrament meeting in this chapel. The first time I sang I was 4
years old.
She played the piano in the Primary
and in Relief Society for years. Music was something that gave her a lot of
enjoyment. She loved to go to musical programs
especially if her grandchildren were in them.
It seems to me as I look back on the
memory my mom, that she was almost always happy. She was seldom grouchy or mad. It is so nice to be around that kind of
person. Even when she didn’t feel well,
she was always good natured. What a
wonderful quality to have.
There were some hardships my mother
went through. We lost my brother in an car
accident when he was 21. That was a
really hard thing for her to get over. I
think if it hadn’t been for music and the Joy Singers, and her job at West
Elementary that she might not have made it though that time.
Another thing I’d like to tell you
about my mom was how she loved others.
She was always kind to other people.
She especially had an affection for people who were crippled and older
people. She was really one of the most Christ-like people that I know. In several instances when I was with her in
the store and I saw her go up to someone who looked poor and she handed them
some money and said you need this more than I do. She was always calling on one of her many
friends on the phone to visit, to give them some encouragement, to see how they
were, or to cheer them up.
She loved to send cards to give
someone a lift or to wish them happy birthday.
Just last month she sent out Thanksgiving cards to many of her family
members, and tucked inside were pictures of her mother and father that we had recently
found. She sent them because she thought that they would like to have them. That’s how she was, always thoughtful.
Because mom loved others they loved
her. This summer it was my honor to take
my mother to Panguitch for her 60th class reunion. She hadn’t been well for several months before
that and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to go.
But we told her it wasn’t every year that you have a 60th
class reunion. When she arrived, all of
her classmates came out to see her and they were so happy to see her. They told her that they were so glad that she
came. It made her feel so good to know
that she was loved. She came away from that weekend feeling that she was the
queen of the ball. I was so happy to be
part of that happiness. It was one of the best and most memorable trips that I’ve taken in a long time. My mother was very loved in her hometown
because she always made an effort to go see the people she cared about.
Part of loving others is being willing
to forgive others. Mom was a very
forgiving person. She was always willing
to forgive someone who said something about her or to her. She
didn’t like to have disagreements with others. I think that is a wonderful character trait. One
of my friends posted this on Facebook in memory of Mom: “ I have learned that people will forget what you said. They will forget what you did, but they will
never forget how you made them feel.”
I would like to tell you about how my
mom loved her family. One of the things
that she was proudest of in her life was her family. She was a loving wife,
mother and grandmother. I feel so
blessed to have been her daughter, and to have been taught unconditional love
by her. She was an incredible example. I hope I can learn to be as patient and
loving as she has always been.
We were very close partly because I
was her only daughter. We were not only mother and daughter, we were friends.
She supported me in everything I did. I
don’t believe that many mothers and daughters have that kind of relationship. Our relationship began at an early age. We always enjoyed doing things together. We
talked on the phone nearly every day. She
was my confidant, my biggest fan.
About 10 years ago my mom gave me a
memory book. It details things about her
childhood and things about me growing up.
When she gave it to me I thought it was nice, and I hadn’t really looked
at it a lot in the last ten years. But
now that she’s gone, it means so much to me.
I’m grateful that she made it for me. It was just like her to do
something so thoughtful like that and I’ll treasure it always. I have read it
since she died, and it really does mean so much to me.
My mom loved all her family. She dearly loved her mother and she always did
all that she could to help her even though she lived in Southern Utah. She loved all her brothers and sisters and had
a close relationship with all of them and was concerned about their welfare. She always made an effort to visit them when
she could. She was especially close to her
two sisters who are here at her funeral today. She was close to her many nieces and nephews,
and she kept in contact with her many extended family members.
There are a lot of people and family
members who would be here today if it weren’t for the weather or the fact that
they are out of town. Family was
important to mom.
Mom was a wonderful grandmother. She was so excited to become a grandmother
and she was proud of her grandchildren's achievements and activities. She loved to spend time with her them. She loved to have them stay at her house. If there was ever a proud, doting grandmother,
it was my mom. I hope her grandchildren know how blessed they are to have such
a loving grandmother in their life.
There were many people who said to me
in the last week, “What a terrible time to have a death in the family. I bet you had a terrible Christmas”. My daughter said something to me that I would
like to repeat:
She said that she thought that
Christmas this year had been more meaningful.
Christmas is not about giving.
It’s not about spending time with family even though that’s
important. Christmas is not just
about the birth of the Savior. Christmas
is about the Savior, and the Savior’s gift to us is gift of the Atonement. He
died for us that we might be able to live again. Without that we could not be together
again. That brings so much peace to me to
know that I can see my Mom again. I’m grateful for that knowledge.
My mom might not have been a scripture
master. She might not have been the
person in Sunday School who answered all the questions. She might not have bore her testimony very
often. But by her example she showed how
to live the gospel: How to love others,
how to forgive, how to be compassionate and what was important in life. I saw her on her knees every night before she
got into bed. I know she’s happy now. What a wonderful reunion it must have been on
Christmas Eve being reunited with my brother, Lynn.
Lastly there’s a song that I think has
an awesome message. It wasn’t a favorite
of mom’s but it is a favorite of mine and the words go like this:
I’ve heard it said that people come
into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those who’ll help us
most to grow
If we let them, and we help them in
return.
Well I don’t know if I believe that’s
true,
But I know I’m who I am today because
I knew you.
Because I knew you I have been changed
for good.
Well it may be that we will never meet
again in this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me is made of what I
learned from you
You’ll be with me like a handprint on
my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have rewritten mine by
being my friend.
Because I knew you, because I knew you
I have been changed for good.
