My mother, Dorothy Anderson Lowry, never had a fancy job or any kind of career, instead devoting her life to her family.
It would be easy to dismiss her as merely a housewife, but that’s not who she was (even though she was a remarkable cook!)
In my view, Mother demonstrated extraordinary courage as a young woman when she decided to join the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.
Even though her WAC duties never took her overseas, they did take her to military bases around the country. For someone who had never left the poverty of rural Wilcox County, that was a major achievement for a young woman.
One of the stories Mother used to tell about her WAC experience never failed to garner laughter from her family and friends -- no matter how many times she told it.
On the first day of basic training, it seems she went to the mess hall for dinner, especially hungry. She loaded up her tray of food, including a generous portion of rice pudding.
After finishing her meal, she said she was too full to eat her dessert and was about to dump her tray when a drill sergeant halted her. She was roughly informed that the motto in the mess hall was: “Take all you want, but eat all you take.”
After being forced to cram her dessert down while the drill sergeant hovered over her, Mother said she never had a taste for rice pudding again.
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What I miss most about Mother?
When she still lived at her home in Montgomery after my father died in 2002, I would often drop by after work for a brief visit to check on her. But those visits seemed to go on and on because she was such a wonderful conversationalist.
Mother was always willing to listen to my problems and talk them out with me – no matter how old I got. I treasure those days.
