Article August 13, 2001 Issue

Taking care of Mom

By Kay Olson

My mom spent years taking care of other people. She was a fiercely independent New England woman, and although she called my dad "Boss," she managed our dairy farm.

In the 1940s, she ran for school committee, the first woman in our small town of Millis, Massachusetts, to do so. She won, and served four terms. In the 1950s, a grandmother, she went back to Boston University to finish her education degree. After graduation, she taught math in a junior high school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, for many years. No student fooled around in her classes! But they learned to love math.

In the 1990s, when she was in her 90s, my mom decided it was time to sell her property and think about moving south to be near our family. Remarkably, in our cul-de-sac of privately-owned homes, one house became available for rent. I was delighted. It would be good to have her nearby. I phoned and urged her to come for a visit and look at the house. She did. She loved it. The landlord was called. A lease was signed.

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