Wednesday, April 10, 2013

On April 10, 1910...

...this lovely lady was born in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania:


(click on the photo to enlarge)

She was Ruth Elizabeth Silberman Brague, my mother.

The photo is around 80 years old now. It was taken in the 1930s when my mother was in her twenties, before she met my father.

If she were still alive, she would turn 103 today.

Unfortunately, she died on October 4, 1957, in Fort Worth, Texas, at the age of 47.

Happy birthday, Mama.


(click on the photo to enlarge)

8 comments:

  1. A lovely tribute, RWP. I have a similar, if not quite so glamorous, photograph of my mother, who was born in 1901. They had "class," they did.

    My brother, who died in 1969, also was born on April 10 (1941). I spoke with my sister yesterday, as we are wont to do on every occasion of his birthdate. We cannot imagine him at age 72; he will forever be 28 years old in our minds' eyes.

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  2. Pat, thanks for commenting. I thought I remembered, as I was composing this post, that April 10 was also your brother's birthday. I'm glad I remembered correctly. I know what you mean -- Mama will never be older than 47 to me.

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  3. Ah. Forever 47. What a stunner.

    It is too soon for us to gain solace from the thought, but one day, perhaps, we will be happy that our friend Craig will always be 24 to us.

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  4. It's lovely that you keep her memory alive and that in some ways you are still the young lad you were when you lost her...Greetings from Sri Lanka. Your blog-friend-nemesis YP.

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  5. Stunning photo. She looks like a movie star ~ from back in the days of "movie stars" and not "celebrities".

    And there is no better tribute to her, I am sure, than the son she raised.

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  6. More thanks go out to Katherine, Yorkshire Pudding, and LightExpectations for your kind comments.

    No one has called me "a young lad" in a very long time. I think that's a compliment, but I'm not sure.

    Mama would be shocked to hear that the words "stunner" and "stunning" were used in reference to her. She always considered herself to be "the plain one" in her family because she had straight, "mousy-brown" hair (as she called it). All compliments were usually directed at her older sister (by 11 years) who had dark, naturally curly hair like their mother. And the sister had piano-playing talent, too (again, like their mother), while my mother said she always struggled. (I never quite believed her. A favorite story was that she had slaughtered Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C Sharp Minor at one piano recital. However, a considerable amount of talent is required even to attempt Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C Sharp Minor.)

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

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