"Memories of Mother" by Rebecca Richins Sanders

As I have read over the story of Mother’s life, it has brought back many memories to me. Today is her birthday; she would have been eighty-five years old. On her birthday last year we had a cake with eight-four candles on it. It was a pretty picture to see the small grandchildren help her blow out the candles. For the last nine or ten years, Mother’s Birthday was the day all her children and grandchildren have tried to get together to show her their love, honor and respect. Oh how she loved to have her family and friends come to see her.

Her life was full of rich experiences and sacrifices for her family and friends. She was always ready to help anyone who was more unfortunate then herself. Many people have come to Mother for council and advice, and the young and old called her Aunt Rachel.

Mother did not get to attend Church very much, but she loved the Gospel and taught it to her children, telling them to do what was right and if they would they need not be afraid to face anyone in the world. During all her hardships and trials I never remember her finding fault with the Church. All the sacrifices she made for the church were made willingly.

When Father and Mother first lived on the ranch in Mexico and when the Mexicans were stealing and frightening the ranchers, Mother had quite an experience. One night when Father was away from the ranch, Mother had gathered the children around her and had prayer; the younger children were put to bed when six or eight Mexicans rode up on horses. One of them came to the door. Oriel, who was about ten years old, went to the door and asked him what he wanted. The man said he wanted wagon grease for his sore hand. Oriel told him where he could find it, and later they came back and asked for bread, which Mother got for them. Then they asked for eggs, butter, and a pan to fry the eggs in. Mother gave them all they asked for and they made a fire near the woodpile and cooked their supper. Then they ate and when they finished they came to the door again and asked if we were alone. Oriel told them yes, we were. Mother offered up a prayer for our protection. The Mexicans said to Oriel, "Heap good boy and heap good woman." They all got on their horses and left. Father met these same men about a mile from the house and they stopped him and told him what a good boy and woman he had.

I remember one time when there was a crazy Mexican running around the country. Mother and the children were taken to town until he could be found. They found him on top of our house, and he had been inside the house and had filled all the fruit bottles with water. On the ranch there were lots of quail. Father made a trap and caught them and Mother would make a quail pie. They were so good. No one could make quail pie like Mother! Mother also made us a delicious plum pudding. When she baked bread, I liked to pull off the top crust and eat it with lots of butter on it. My, it was good!

When I was about five or six years old I remember one Christmas Eve finding Mother crying. I asked her what was the matter and she said that she did not have much to give to Santa Clause and she was afraid we would not have much for Christmas. I remember hanging up my stocking and on Christmas morning this is what I found in it: four pennies and a hand full of raisins. I was so happy because I had so much money, and I kept it a long time. The next Christmas we got an orange, apple, and candy, but best of all, I got a large china doll. Its head was black and it looked like hair. It was so pretty. My sister, Judith, got one that had yellow hair. They were our first dolls, and how we loved them. Parley and I were playing one time and I did something to make him mad, so he took my doll, ran out to the wood pile, put it on the block, and chopped it’s head off. I grabbed up my doll and ran to Mother crying. She said she was sorry about it, and glued the head on but my doll was ruined. I had to be so careful when I played with my doll after that.

I remember Mother always found time in the afternoon to teach us to sew, knit, and crochet. She helped us make our doll clothes, and she taught us to cook. One time she helped me make doughnuts for a fair and how proud I was when they won first place.

One day four or five men were down at the ranch rounding up the horses. Mother told me to go to the corral and open the gate so the horses could go in. I played on the gate in the hot sun for a while and then went into the house and told Mother I was sick. In a few seconds I went into some kind of a spell and Mother carried me to the front door and put me on a chair and she put her hands on my head and blessed me through the power of the Priesthood her husband held. When I came to I asked her what I was doing sitting in front of the door; she told me that I had been sick and that she had blessed me. I was sick for a few days and Mother made me stay in the house.

One morning we children were milking and Mother was at the house getting breakfast and skimming the milk, getting the cream ready to churn. One of the cows we called "One Teat" got out and was a little distance from the corral. I went down in the hollow to get her and coming back it seems as if I was forced to look back. There in back of me was a sick coyote coming closer to me all the time. Mother heard me calling her, and as she ran out of the house she got a hoe that was by the house and ran after the coyote and drove it away, never thinking of the danger to herself, only to help. Mother thought the coyote was a mad one.

My children loved to spend a few weeks every summer with their grandparents. I wanted them to know their grandfather and grandmother and their aunts and their uncles. They have said that the time they spent with them were some of the happiest days of their lives. When one of my little grandsons was told that Grandma had passed away he said, "I am glad I went to Lordsburg to see her three days before." He always called her "Tiny Grandma" and me "Big Grandma." Mother loved to have her grandchildren and great grandchildren come to see her. She always had some little thing for them tucked away-candy, cookies, or some other little gift. Mother was living near her daughter, Judith, when Judith’s children were small. They all loved her for what she did for them and they loved to go to her home. She was devoted to her family and made thousands of sacrifices for them. Although she has gone to Eternal Rest, her spirit will long be with us. As a mother she gave her best. No one could ask for more.