Born on December 16, 1919, in Provo, Utah, as Thelma Irene Gaudio, she was the daughter of Luigi Pasquale Gaudio, and the former Phoebe Lovonia Jaggers. Her father was a shoe repairman, and they lived in the Provo area until about 1931 when Thelma was a junior high student in San Francisco. She lost her six front teeth when she was about five or six, and when she was nine, she contracted polio. When she was recovering in Primary Hospital, they gave her oatmeal every other day, and the other days they gave her spinach. The reason why I like spinach is because my mother hated spinach, and seen no use to make me eat it.
In 1944, my dad was a student at BYU, and he was driving taxis to pay for his tuition. Since he was 4F, he didn't fight the Germans or the Japanese, so he went to college on a campus full of women. He was supposed to date one of my aunts, but he dated my mother, Thelma, instead. They were married November 5, 1944.
In 1946, she gave birth to my two sisters, Carolyn and Marolyn. In 1947, she gave birth to my sister Louise. In 1949, she gave birth to my sister Linda, who in about 2000, died of brain cancer.
In about 1950, the family moved to Artesia (now Lakewood), California where she gave birth to my sister Betty in 1955. In the early 1960's they moved to Bellflower, California when my dad owned his taxi business, and where in 1965 when I was born.
Thelma was a dedicated mother who would listen when you really had a problem. Her favorite sayings were, "it's like we're going to South Africa", and "we're going crazy, wanna go?"
Her last place was in the California Mobile Home Park. in Paramount, California. She departed from this Earth on about 4:00 p. m., Wednesday, August 22, 2007 , of Alzheimer's Disease.
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
I have a few things more to say.
Cindy Sheehan, I LOST MY MOTHER DUE TO BUSH'S OPPOSITION TO STEM-CELL RESEARCH! My mother and your son, Casey, are in a better place. BUSH, CHENEY, AND COMPANY WON'T BE. Bush has placed willful ignorance ahead of science. He has continually lied about why we need to be in Iraq in the first place, and why we need to stay there. Clinton's killed no one. Bush's lies killed over 3,000 US troops alone. Instead of shoring up the levees in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, and before the I-84 Bridge fell in Minneapolis weeks ago, our tax dollars are being wasted on somebody else's civil war. Have we seen this before? Like in Viet Nam?
BUSH, CHENEY, AND THE ENTIRE CABINET NEED TO BE IMPEACHED YESTERDAY! There was once a Jack Webb movie, called the "D. I." There was a lady who sang that song, "If Nobody Does It, Somebody Else Will." Sorry, we no longer need Republican-Lites, like Pelosi. We need true liberals like Cindy, who would push for the end of this sorry, stupid ass war. I endorse her to succeed Pelosi as the Member of Congress for Pelosi's seat, and if I can get up there, I would live to campaign for Cindy.
Mothers, don't send your children to war. We need our troops home alive to be with their families. We need our tax dollars spent for the benefit of our people at home, and to improve our economy here with no more offshoring. We need universal health care and full speed ahead on stem cell research. We need to rebuild our country again without a false face belief in God. "If you love God, keep thy commandments."
Bye, Mom. I love you. Hopefully, I'll be older than you when I return!
