a strong Kentucky woman!

 Mildred Holman Dickinson

Mildred, my wife's mother,

was a strong Kentucky woman:

born to the rooted values

of generations of the farm,

fully committed to family,

to living life fully committed also

to thinking clearly,

to loving without condition,

I asked her once: 

"Do you ever quit worrying about your children?"

no equivocation in her answer: "No!"

she held the family together

with two daughters born

and then her physician husband

off to the Pacific theater of World War II,

serving to put back together the sons of fellow Americans,

while his wife kept the home fires burning

and helped her kids to persevere

when fear stormed down upon them,

she reminded us to realize

that who would win the war

was unknown to them at the time,

the war over, her husband devoted himself

to the health of the greater Glasgow community,

and a third daughter born,

one more chance to help the next generation get it right,

I fell in love with and married the third daughter,

and I have worked to see Mildred through her eyes,

I have worked to get onboard with the full commitment to family,

with the love of maintaining traditions

such as the baked country ham for the holidays,

such as time with family whenever possible,

treasuring her Holman past by regular pilgrimages

to Beckton and the family farm,

to finding her own way,

in town, with a job at the bank,

in town, as a homemaker,

making clothes for her girls,

supporting her daughters in whatever paths called to them,

supporting her husband in all the efforts that called to him,

and she still found time to open herself

to possibilities in the kitchen:

spaghetti and sauce, curry,

the joy of friends and cards and food and drink,

I often think of my wife as Little Mildred,

for her love of family, children, food, clarity of thought,

echoes and mirrors her mother,

Happy birthday, Mildred!

even though you're gone,

we honor you whenever we give ourselves fully

to the moment, to the other,

to how food can express some 

of the depth and breadth of who we are.

by Henry H. Walker

September 19, ‘26