To a Mother Who Saved Everything

There are many ways to fête mothers on their special day, but none are so expensive or ornate as to come close to the hand-wrought tokens of appreciation of a young child.

If it were not for Agnes Tully Stevens’ propensity—just like her mother—to save every token of family regard, there wouldn’t be many of the letters, photographs, and even ephemera of Agnes’ Chicago lifespan from her 1888 birth to her passing nearly one hundred years later for me to share here on A Family Tapestry.

So perhaps it is fitting to take this Mother’s Day to share a handwritten greeting created—in booklet form containing four pages—by her then-twelve year old son, Frank, in honor of his mother.

FLOWERS

FOR

MOTHER

Masses Heard              V

H. Communions           V

Rosary                         I

Prayers                       XX

M  is for the mercy she possesses

O  means I owe her everything

T  means her tenderness

H  means her heart of Gold

E  means her eyes of sunshine

R  means right and right

she’ll always be

Put them all together

and they spell

Mother

She is all the world

to me.

                                              St. Anne’s School

                                              Mother’s Day

                                              May 1937

My Dear Mother

            Just a few lines to tell you I can never, never pay you for all you have done for me but I wont you to know I can and will always love, honer, and obey you.

                        Lovingly Yours

                        Francis

I think that we were

            very wise,

To choose you for a mother.

In all the wide world

            of folks,

We would not have another.

Today is the happy

            time

When we would sing

            a chorse

Of Love and Happiness

            to you

For all you’ve done

            for us.