"Be There" to Gather

"I had the best time,"  is what my mother, Bertha Bee (Leonard) McCauley, would say every time she came home from a family member funeral...and she attended lots of funerals, even when she had to take off work and fly to a different state.  Why?  She felt it was important to "be there"---not only to honor the person who died, but to support living loved ones. This included family members of her in-laws, even after my father died.   I can't remember for sure, but I believe she even attended funerals of family members she had never met in person.

My mother's mother, Bertha (Brasher) Leonard, died when my mother was only 9 months old.  Her father, Gerald Ray (Bud) Leonard, took her home to his mother, Annie Eliza (Luce) Leonard.  My mother ended up staying in that home and became the 15th child.  Her aunts and uncles became her brothers and sisters.  This many "siblings", plus the three half-sisters from her father's second marriage, meant lots of descendants.  Even though family members lived all over the country, my mom did her best to keep track of everyone and "be there" when she could be to give support. 

I remember one occasion when my mother went to visit and stay with my Uncle Tony Leonard in Stockton, California when he was very sick because he loved her rice pudding.  This was typical of my mother.

When my mother became older she not only reached out to her immediate family, but she started contacting extended Leonard family members...and then she would "be there" for them.  She loved collecting and gathering cousins. 

As if she now had not gathered an incredible number of family members, she also felt that she needed to get to know her Brasher family members.  She made trips to Huntington, Utah where many Brashers still lived and introduced herself to them.  They became part of her "be there" mission.