Monday, January 6, 2025
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Our mother, Jacque Lorraine Lojpersberger, nee Card, was a good wife, sister, aunt and most of all a good person and a great Mom. We love her and will miss her dearly.
I look at her graduation picture and think of the times she grew up in. A childhood spent on a small farm in Apalachin. The nation at war and then after, the boom times of the 1940's and 50's and though I knew life could be difficult for her on the farm I would like to think there were mostly happy times then for mom. In her teens; sock hops and high school hi-jinks. She did not talk a lot about her younger years but ( with a wistful smile) she did tell us of playing hooky from Vestal High, having fun with her friends and meeting her high school sweetheart - our dad, Karl (Joe).
I think Mom's dream was to have her own family, a nice house, go to church on Sundays and have family close. She achieved that dream and my brothers Joe, John and I are here as proof.
Growing up, Mom always made sure that we had new clothes to wear every year and were spic and span every day for school. She instilled in us the great value in the small and simple acts of courtesy and good manners.
We moved around a lot growing up, partly due to Dad's job, but also there was a bit of restlessness in the seeking of the other part of her dream and that was a nice house. Not that the houses we lived in were not nice but it always seemed that in each one there was a flaw to be corrected, which meant a remodeling project for Dad, and then, remodeling complete, it was time to sell up and move. Mom and Dad always did well in that respect and I don't think they ever lost money on a house.
We most always did things as a family. Mom and Dad were always together, they had their difficult times like every couple and always worked through it. I cherish the memories of family reunions, Mom making her macaroni salad. Scolding us kids to get out from underfoot and go out and play. Camping trips every summer. Usually during the only vacation that Mom and Dad got from their jobs. It is a bittersweet memory for me when I look back on those vacations and wish that I had been less of a brat at times. Always nagging to go fishing , when I suspect now, that Mom just wanted Dad to relax awhile by the campfire.
Mom had many interests but never ones that took her far from home and family. She did not have the great urge to be a world traveler. Hometown and occasional travel within the USA were enough. She enjoyed being on the Saturday night mixed bowling league with Dad at Owego Bowl. She enjoyed golfing- though I think she may have taken up the sport so that Dad would have a partner to go with him if his friends or his sons were not able to. She tried valiantly to keep up, got to a skill level where her drives were mostly in the fairway, had a good short game and often outputted the rest of us!
Mom was a very good cook and baker. She took special pride in her homemade spaghetti and meatballs. She always baked our birthday cakes herself from scratch. She enjoyed baking us cookies and tried to be judicious in handing out the utensils with left over batter. If you were not especially bratty that day you might get the wooden spoon with lots of easy to get at batter and even better the mixing bowl itself, elsewise you were left to get what you could from the hand mixer's beaters.
Mom taught herself to crochet and to sew and began making sweatshirts, blankets and quilts that became treasured Christmas gifts. She enjoyed the holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even in earlier and leaner years there would be a turkey and all the fixings on the table, and at Christmas the tree was always loaded with gifts.
We all thank you Mom for these good memories and we will strive to let fade the bad memories of these past few years that you were sick.
We bore witness to your struggle with Alzheimer's. A terrible disease that came and took you from us little pieces at a time. And we grieved at each piece lost. We hated this gradual but relentless and merciless loss of the spiritual, the mental presence of You, and now we say good riddance to this disease but wrestle with the guilt in feeling relieved that in your passing, you are no longer suffering from it. Though now, we are able to let these bad memories of sickness and indignity subside to the back of our minds and celebrate and remember all the good memories of your long and successful life.
We love you Mom. be free now and do not worry about us. We will be Ok. Rest now with Dad. And know that we will never forget our dear parents, Jacque and Joe Lojpersberger. You will always be in our hearts.
