Let Me Tell You About My Mom Who Passed Away 20 Years Ago Today

Anyone who has lost a parent can understand that the anniversary of their death hits you hard every year. Today was that day, and it was a big one. I lost my mom to cancer on October 1, 2005. 20 years ago. Let me tell you a little about her.

Barabara (Hutchinson) Parsons

My mom, Barbara, was born in Bethel on May 2, 1947, the daughter of my grandparents Loton and Iva Hutchinson. They lived in Bethel and ever time I'm there, memories come back of when my grandparents still lived on Elm Street.

Mom went to Gould Acadmey which was only a third of mile up the street. She graduated from Gould Academy with the Class of 1965 and married my dad and moved to South Paris, but later divorced.

She got her nursing degree and worked for over 30 years as an LPN in at Stephens Memorial Hospital, and two nursing homes in South Paris and Norway.

The Bad News

My brother Joel and I were her pride a joy. Sure, she would get upset with us sometimes, but it was out of love for us. We were her everything. She was our eveything. Then one day she got a diagnosis that was not good.

Mom smoked for the majority of her life. This was the 1960s when smoking was much more prevelant than it is today.

Her doctor took an x-ray and could see a huge mass in her lungs that was untreatable.  She died just a few months later in 2005, just one year before my son was born.She was 59 and she would have loved that kid.

20 years ago doesn't seem like 20 years to me. It's hard to believe its been that long without her.

My advice to you, if you smoke, is to do whatever it takes to quit so you don't miss out on life like my mom did.

I love you Mom.