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Note: 1. Remembrances by daughter Cheryl Paulson Haas, Nov. 1997: Phyllis Irene Hawes was born at home in Nashville, Michigan. When the nurse that was attending asked her older brother, Kendall, who was 3, what he thought of his new baby sister, he replied "We didn't need her!" When Mom was three or four, the family moved to California and settled in Oakland. They lived for a short time with Aunt Lulu and Uncle Dave (Altha Rarick Hawes' older sister) and eventually moved into a new house on Woodhaven Way. Mom attended grade school and high school there and then enrolled at the Highland Scool of Nursing in Oakland. Her dream was to become a nurse. While in nursing school she met my dad at a dance and said her first impression of him was that he had beautiful big, brown eyes with long lashes and that it was unfair that he should have such long lashes when hers were short! In 1939 my mom had some problems with her knee that required surgery and she was unable to work on the wards to get her clinical experience (although she did attend all her regular classes.) My dad graduated from Cal Berkley that June and went down to Fresno to work and live with his folks. By the end of 1939, Mom and Dad decided to get married in January of 1940 as they missed each other terribly and Mom would not be able to graduate with her class due to the missed clinical experience. In those days you couldn't be married and be in nursing school, so they opted for marriage. They were married January 20, 1940 at the Thornhill Methodist Church that my mom and her folks always attended. When my oldest sister, Ellie, graduated from high school, Mom decided to join her at Pasasena City College and become a licensed vocational nurse. They went to school for 12 months and mom graduated top in her class. She was a nurse at last! She worked for almost 20 years at the Arcadia Clinic for several different doctors there - Dr. Wilson and Dr. Plattes being the two I remember. Mom was so much fun and people really enjoyed being around her. She was a very positive person and outgoing and friendly. Some of the boys I dated would come back to visit after we were no longer dating, just because they liked her so much. She had a way of smoothing my dad's "ruffled feathers" and could humor him out of his anger (which was quite rare anyway) with her cute ways. We laughed a lot in our house. Mom was also a good cook and housekeeper. Her house was decorated with lots of interesting knick-knacks and she particularly loved antique clocks. She ended up buying a clock for each of her children and grandchildren and would tell us "This is Ellie's clock" or "That is Eric's clock" etc. so that when she died we each had a clock to remember her by. She also was an excellent seamstress and made most of our clothes when we were in grade school. She also made all my formals in high school and my wedding dress which was beautiful. Mom's artistic ability was outstanding. I can remember her doodling while she talked on the phone when I was young. When I was in high school, she took a course in oil painting at the local recreation district and that started her long career in art. She did oils - landscapes, portraits, still lifes. She did pastels and a few water colors. Later she sculpted and won several prizes for her work. And she loved to sketch. She would sit on the couch at night and sketch from magazines or newspapers - mostly the faces of people she found interesting. She was truly gifted and was able to enjoy her talent. She also loved Bonsai - which is a kind of art - and had quite a few beautiful plants. Mom was loving and affectionate - always ready to praise and to encourage. She loved daddy very much and even long years after he had died and she had remarried, she would say how much she missed him. She and daddy hardly ever fought (she said she made a vow not to "bicker" when she married as she felt her parents did). I know it was kind of a shock to me when I got married and realized that fighting was a pretty normal part of most marriages! I miss mom so much, but I am glad that she is enjoying heaven with daddy and many other loved ones who are with her. 2. Remebrances by daughter Karen Paulson Saenz, Nov. 1997: Mom had a cute little personality. She was a good wife and a good mother who filled our home with love and laughter. I miss her dearly. Mom loved each one of us girls and made us each feel special. She always taught us "sisters stick together" and we do! Mom was about 5'4" tall with beautiful hazel eyes and brunette hair. She was an artist, a nurse, a wife, a mother and a friend. She used to sew all our clothes. In fact, I don't remember having a store bought dress until I was about 7 years old. I remember Mom making us three girls matching Easter dresses with white pinafores. She would still be sewing on them when we went to bed and then when we woke up in the morning they would be hanging on the door knob with our Easter baskets. I remember one year she made me a red corduroy jumper with a blue corduroy coat for school. She used to make all my formal dance dresses in high school and she made my wedding dress and all the bridesmaid's dresses. One of the things I appreciate about Mom is that she stayed home and raised us girls. She was always there when we needed her and she sacrificed things for herself so we could have things. She taught me love for classical music, for flowers, and for the beauty of nature. We used to go on hikes in the mountains and she would point out a pretty tree or flower or a cute little bug (which she would "tickle" and then say "err! err!") She would collect interesting rocks or drift wood and find a place for them in her house or garden. Mom had all kinds of cute sayings that she passed down from her mom (Gram) and her Grandpa Rarick. Things like "Close the door - were you born in a barn?" or "You can see upstairs and your beds aren't made" (if your underwear showed) or "Like chicken? Have a wing" (take my arm) or "Red and yellow, catch a fellow" or "Hotter than a pea biscuit" Also, "finer than frogs fur" was a response to "How are you?" "Cuter than a bug's ear" "Smarter than a whip" and "Snug as a bug in a rug" described us from time to time! Sometimes these still come to me out of nowhere and I feel like Mom is close by. Mom made our house a home with her love, her decorating, her cooking, baking, washing and ironing, and music. I remember one time while she was ironing she played house with me. She was the babysitter while I went shopping. I remember Mom teaching me how to fold socks and how to iron (I still do it the way she taught me). She would let us girls help her in the kitchen so we all learned how to cook, Gram never let her help so she didn't know how to cook when she got married. Mom met daddy when she was in nursing school and he was at the University of California at Berkley. I think they went on a blind date - I'm not sure. But she always used to tell us that she "hit daddy over the head with a baseball bat and married him before he woke up"! Speaking of stories, she used to tell me that I got my blue eyes from the garbage man at the dump! I guess he had blue eyes. Ofcourse Pop-pop and Grandpa both had blue eyes, so I think it more likely that I got the color of my eyes from them! I was the only one in our family with blue eyes. Mom had hazel, Dad, Ellie and Cheryl all have brown eyes. Mom showed us a lot of affection. She would hold us on her lap and kiss and hug us. I remember when I was little and trying to reach up and kiss Mom and she would raise her chin just a little so I couldn't reach and she was only 5'4". That all changed when I grew up to 5'7" and could kiss her anytime I wanted! We had a loving home and I thank God for the wonderful Christian parents He gave me. 3. Remebrances by daughter Eleanor Paulson Faust, November 1997: I remember, when we lived on Nason Street in Alameda, the night that Mom was bathing Karen and I in the claw foot tub with the blue and white gingham skirt and the lights went out. It was pitch black and we got scared. Mom began singing "Chickery chick cha la, cha la, chickalaroom, any bananaca, bollacawallaca, can't you see, chickery chick is me". It was such a funny song that Karen and I forgot about being scared and began laughing. The lights came back on and I don't think I was ever afraid of the dark again. I remember in grade school, seeing a girl with a disability. Other kids began teasing her and soon I joined in. When Mom came to get me at school, she told me how wrong that was - that God made her and that I was to be kind and sensitive to others who may not be like me. She then made me apologize to the girl. I deeply regretted my actions and to this day I credit Mom for the sensitivity and understanding I have of others...she was a wonderful example. When we lived on Nason Street, I remeber that Mom would stay up late into the night sewing and in the morning we would each have a beautiful new dress with a pinafore. I remember using the ties on the pinafore as horse's reigns. How many mom's would go back to school with their daughter so that she would have a profession? My Mom did! We went to nursing school together and she won the essay contest in our English class for her paper on her most important accomplishment in life...her three girls. I will always be grateful to her for her many sacrifices and devotion to her family. Mom loved plants and going to Calico. On one trip to Calico, she found a manzanita bush she wanted to bring back home. I said I would help her dig it up..manzanita bushes are "protected", but we were going to give it a good home..we both began pulling as hard as we could. But it wouldn't budge. Just then we looked up and saw two men in khaki shorts and figured they were park Rangers and we were busted! It turned out they were out hiking like us and helped us pull the bush out of the ground! Mom was an artist, aspiring writer, and bonsai enthusiast. Her first paintings were all purchased by the Arcadia Clinic, where she worked, and still hang there today. Her bonsai plants were donated to the Arboretum. But she did give me a "baby" from Gram's Japanese maple that still thrives today. In fact, it's the only live plant I have. Mom had a great sense of humor! I remember her walking up to a plant with a rather strange bug on it, and she "tweeked" it's tail and said "Er Er"...we still say that today. It's a Paulson tradition. Mom always taught us that sisters stick together, like glue...what wonderful teaching...we three girls still stick together like glue. We were truly blessed to have our Mom!!!!
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