My Aunt Mary Lou Bronson Salter Galer

Christian is reading Calvin and Hobbs outloud to me as I waste away. I am so sick. I feel like barfing constantly. I feel guilty about not being at work and letting down my clients yet it simply is NOT possible!!!

So sorry clients.

I was asked to speak at my Aunt's Funeral. Here is what I wrote about her:

Mary Lou’s Life can be summed up in three words:
Service, Family and Determination
Service:
Mary Lou lived a life of service through her chosen profession.
It isn’t always easy to be a wife, mother, sister, grandmother and social worker.
Cindy said, “It was hard to be a social worker. She took the time to have rapport with her clients.”
Mary Lou was a woman who knew service:
When I think of Aunt Marylou I think of strength. I think of feminine wisdom and power through service.
President Thomas S. Monson said,
“To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves. No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man. Service to others is akin to duty, the fulfillment of which brings true joy. We do not live alone—in our city, our nation, or our world. There is no dividing line between our prosperity and our neighbor's wretchedness. 'Love thy neighbor' is more than a divine truth. It is a pattern for perfection."
Aunt Mary Lou inspired others through her work
Suzannah Lyman (great niece) said:

Aunt Marylou was the first person who really inspired me to want to be a social worker. I remember talking to her at some family function or another and she told me that being a social worker was a hard job but that the benefits and the joy of helping others made it all worth it. Although I am no longer pursuing that career, I am proud of the degree in social work that I do have and still wish to serve others in any way I can. Aunt Marylou was an example to me of following your dreams no matter the obstacles.




Determination:
Thomas S. Monson said, “Death is one fact that no one can escape or deny. Because life is fragile and death inevitable, we must make the most of each day.”
Aunt Mary Lou lived her life to the fullest. Grandma and Grandpa lived in an old brick home with a porch on the front. They tore it down and built apartments there and Mary Lou came up to manage them. Mary Lou was trying so hard to be successful as a single mom. She had six children at the time. She was working as both a social worker and an apartment manager. She always had an earnest look on her face. She was determined. One day she decided her kids were going to have bikes for Christmas. She managed to buy bikes for them and put them in a shed. On Christmas Eve she went out to get them and she saw bike tires tracks and she knew they were gone. When she opened the door, sure enough, the bikes were gone. She went down to Grand Central and talked the owner into selling her six more bikes.
Aunt Mary Lou would do anything for her children.
She went back to school and got her degree in Social Work and was a brave social worker who confronted people who needed to be confronted and comforted those in need of comfort.
Not too long after Marylou got home from her mission she was riding her Indian pinto pony whose name was butterfly. Marylou was riding her and she bumped into a bees nest. The bees stung the pony so badly it died. Marylou was stung trying to save her pony.
Mary Lou had a great sense of humor. Once she was nursing George and Simon was staring and Mary Lou said, “Wanna try this?”
Family:
“Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply...” ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814
Sandra Olsen’s Memories: Aunt Mary Lou said once, “It is hard to grow up in a family of performers when you don’t perform much”, I told that to Aunt Ethel and she said, “what is she talking about? She performed as well as the rest of us”.
Simon said, “When Marylou was young she was absolutely gorgeous. (all of my sisters were). Men were crazy about them. Marylou could recite epic poems that seemed to go on forever. Hiawatha was completely memorized. She still remembered them and recited them to her children and grandchildren. All my sisters sang together in harmony. They sang all the songs of the thirties, forties and early fifties. They doted on me like crazy. They gave me a kitten once. They hid it under the covers of their bed. They were all in bed and they pulled beetle bomb (name of kitten) out and gave him to me. Dad would milk the cow and squirt milk into the kitten’s mouth. When I was little and home alone and scared, I would call Mary Lou.”
In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips. ~Author Unknown
Sister to sister we will always be,
A couple of nuts off the family tree.
~Author Unknown
Kathy said, “Aunt Mary Lou always had a smile, if not on her mouth, in her eyes, every time I saw her. I used to think she knew something funny about the world around us that I was missing. When I was a child she seemed to have a calm approach to any storm brewing around her. She always made me feel like I was an important person, even when I was little. I felt accepted by her even if I did something naughty. I loved going to her home, and I loved that it made my mom so happy to be around her. They had a very special relationship.”
When Sandra was a baby (she and Cindy were 2 days apart), Mom and Aunt Mary Lou went on a trip together. Mom couldn’t breast feed Sandra but for seven days Aunt Mary Lou did. Mary Lou and Mom were always close. Mary Lou would come to visit us wherever we were. She enjoyed our Mom and Mom enjoyed her. The conversations were always intellectual, sophisticated and kind. There was never any kind of sibling rivalry between them. They enjoyed sharing knowledge and their children.
Thomas S. Monson
“To understand the meaning of death, we must appreciate the purpose of life. The most glorious, comforting, and reassuring of all events of human history had taken place—the victory over death.”
Lollie’s thoughts: “Goodbye Sweet Aunt Marylou. Thanks for being you. You were an inspiration to your niece and fellow social worker. When I think of you, I think of feminine strength. Power through service comes to mind when I think of your face or feel of your spirit. I know you are with your Mama again...and mine. Here's a hug to all who love you.”

Kathy is giving the speech in my place. Cindy said she felt inspired to ask me. I think she was. I'm too sick to drive the 10 hours, (not to mention 3 sick kids), yet I still get to be a part of it all because I got to write the speech for Kath.

You know you are old when you think going to a funeral is a good time.

Yup. I'm old

and moldy.