A Flag for Mom

Each June 14th flags line the streets to commemorate the day that the United States officially adopted the Stars and Strips in 1777.

The flags that fly on this day signify something very different to me. They fly in honor of the best Mom who ever lived, Coila Ethel Speas McCracken, who passed away nearly two hundred years later, on June 14, 1975, at the young age of forty-six.

As time passes, unimportant things fade, but the sweet memories of  Mom remain vivid. I can still hear her laughter. I can still hear her say, "Home again, home again, jiggidy jig", because home was truly the place she loved more than any other. The lessons that she taught through love and example continue to inspire me day in and day out.

George Albert Smith

Today I reread the life sketch that Kevin wrote and delivered at her funeral service. Her life was simple by the standards of many, but magnificent in the eyes of those who knew and loved her.

For example, I love knowing that the highlight of Mom's life was meeting the Prophet George Albert Smith on a field trip to Salt Lake City as a senior in high school. Mom was not at the pulpit in Fast and Testimony meetings, but no one doubted her faith.

As I read Kevin's words I was once again impressed that Mom was "not content with any school subject until she understood it ... it was never her desire to only gain good grades ... she saw the purpose of schooling -  to learn." Similarly, she understood the purpose of this life was to learn and that learning can be difficult and painful. She suffered silently and valiantly through many years of a weakening disease without drawing attention to her condition or using it as an excuse to avoid work or service.

How true it is that she "searched always to be understanding, to comprehend the innermost feelings of others and help them attain their highest potential."

How wonderful that she "truly lived the motto inscribed on the Relief Society pin given her that "Charity Never Faileth." 

Kevin summed up her life beautifully: " She has loved her own and they have loved her." Is that not our purpose in this existence?

I will ever be grateful for my angel mother.