Remembering Emma on Mother's Day

Mother’s Legacy
(2 Timothy 1:5)

A. Introduction

There always seem to be the need for disclaimers for Mother’s Day sermons. Because

-Some are. Some are not.
-Some were. Some were not.
-Some will. Some will not.
-Some are chosen. Some chose not.
-Some are good, have experienced good mothers. Some have not.

So with every Mother’s Day sermon, there seems to be a need for a disclaimer.

For all the smiles mother or motherhood might bring, there may be tears.

For all the joys that mother or motherhood may remind us of, there may be sorrow.

3. I like smiles. So here goes.

A mother of three notorious kids was asked if she had to do all over again, would she have kids? She answered, “Sure, but just not the same three.”

An overzealous little boy describing excitedly all the wonderful thing he was going to get for his mother for Mother’s Day may her life easier, said, “I’m going to get her electric can opener; I’m going to get her an electric stove; I’m going to get her an electric chair.”

Then there were the three highly successful sons would tried to outdo one another with gifts for their elderly mother. Getting together, the first said, “I built a big house for our mother.”

The second said, “Well, I sent mother a Mercedes.”

The third said, “I’ve got you both beat. You know how Mom enjoys the Bible and she can’t see very well any more. Well, I sent her a parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took 20 monks in a monastery 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute 100,000 a year to the monastery for the next 10 years, but it was worth it. All she has to do is name a chapter and verse and the parrot will recite it.”

Soon after Mother’s Day, Mom mailed her letters of thanks. She wrote the first son, “Michael, the house you built is too large. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house.”

To the second son, she wrote, “Marvin, I’m nearly blind so I can’t drive. I stay home all day, so I really don’t use the Mercedes.”

And to the third son she wrote. “Dearest Melvin, you were the only son to have the sense to know what your mother really likes. The chicken was delicious.”

Finally, there were Six-year-old Johnny and his four-year-old sister who Suzy presented their mom with a Mother’s Day present; a small, spindly house plant. While it wasn’t the finest looking specimen, they had bought it with their own money and Mom was thrilled. She hugged and kissed her children and told them she loved them for thinking of her.

Johnny said, "There was some other flowers we wanted to buy for you, Mom, but we didn’t have enough money." "Yeah," said sister Suzy, "they had a real nice bunch of flowers at the shop that we were going to buy."

"But I love this plant," said the happy mother. "I know, Mom," said Johnny, "but these flowers would have been perfect for you. They were in a wreath and they had a ribbon that said ’REST IN PEACE’ on it AND YOU’RE ALWAYS ASKING FOR A LITTLE PEACE SO YOU CAN REST.”

B. Body

1. Mothers don’t always have it so good. I have to say that not even the mothers of the Bible (May they rest in peace) did not have it so good.

-Eve lost her sons.

-Sarah waited in anguish while Abraham took Isaac to the mountain and bound him

-Hagar was fearful that she would have to watch her son, Ishmael, die in the desert sun.

-Rebekah lost her two sons. When she conspired to steal the blessing from Esau she lost his affection and lost her son Jacob who had to flee for his life.

-Rachel, the mother of Joseph, died giving birth to Benjamin and never saw the greatness of her son.

-Moses’ mother gave him up to Pharaoh’s household.

-Samson’s mother had to be mortified by the things he did.

-Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, lost her husband and two sons.

-Hannah dedicated her child Samuel to the Lord.

-And then there was Mary the mother of Jesus.

2. But there were joys:

-Elizabeth, like Sarah and Hannah, gave birth in her old age. There was joy in the family. I think grandmothers can appreciate that.
-Bathsheba saw her son Solomon become King.
-Mary was blessed with a remarkable child, we call him Jesus.

The bible has good things to say about women. Women get the last word in the Book of Proverbs: (Please Read Proverbs 31:10-31)

When a remarkable woman, a remarkable mother is mentioned we all have someone we know come to mind, someone we would tell about. For me, it might be Rosemary (but that’s too close to home). It could be my next door neighbor, Lorraine, who prayed 40 years for her son and her prayers answered at the close of her life. But the woman I would like to tell you about is my grandmother Emma Matson.

Emma was born in 1885 in Stoughton, WI. Her dad rose to Superintendent of Stoughton Wagon Company. Stoughton trailers are still made today. Her mother died when she was six and her dad remarried, no necessarily a good thing for Emma and her brother Oscar.

Emma graduated from Whitewater Normal College, now a branch of the University of Wisconsin with a life-time teaching certificate.

She and my Grandpa Hakon were married on Aug 30, 1906. Their first child was born 10 months later. Not able to find good land at an affordable price in Wisconsin, the young couple sought their future in South Dakota just two years later. Rather than homesteading, Hakon found an existing farm they called “Hilltop” just outside of Burke, South Dakota.

In 1914, Hakon started a farm implement business in Burke and they moved to town.

Eventually they moved into this small two-bedroom, one bath home. From front to back on the left side, it had two bedrooms with a bath in the middle. On the right it had a living room, dining room and kitchen.

I saw of the dining room this week at my cousin Charlie’s. Spacious, a dining set that seated eight that I could see. The dining area in those days was the center of the household. Hospitality was important.

I remember the kitchen when we returned to Burke following WWII. It had a wood cooking stove. My Uncle Keith told me she cooked everything from scratch. There was no store-bought bread that came into the house. I remember too wringing the necks of chickens in the backyard and cleaning them. Grandma brought out the boiling water to have them plucked, but I think she did most of the plucking. I wasn’t very good at it. And there was always a big garden to the side of the house that played a major role at the table.

I remember the center heating grate between the living room and dining room. The furnace was coal fired and for most of her time did not have a stoker. It had to be started each and every morning.

She raised five children in that two bedroom house, having the last one, my Uncle Keith, when she was 43 with her oldest, Uncle Carroll, off to college.

As a young mother, she had taught school at a one room country school, Rembrandt School, near Hilltop.. Later she would teach and substitute teach in High School. Carroll had reported that Grandma Emma had taught him Latin. She served on the school board the final 16 years of her life. When she passed away, the senior class dedicated their annual to her.

She and Pop her founding members of the Burke Methodist Episcopal Church, formed in 1917. It was built with a large fellowship area and kitchen. Just as the dining area was the center of the house, the chuch was to be the center of the community. She was active in every facet of the church. She played piano for the Sunday School, taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, was always a part of the Woman, and Women’s circles, part of the Women’s Temperance League.

And she taught me. In my earlier grades, I stayed every Saturday night at their house. After the 10:00 news (Whitey Larson, WNAX, Yankton with studios also in Sioux City), she opened the Bible read to me and to Hakon, and we prayed. We were up in time of course to get me off to Sunday School and to church. Little towns are neat, we were a block and a half from the church, and Grandpa’s business was only two blocks away.

Grandma Emma had good years and bad. Hakon, at least, had influenza in 1918. I know because he lost most of his hair. Surely Emma was nurse at that time.

Let’s see, my Dad was three at that time. My Uncle Carroll had been born in 1907. They had moved to South Dakota when he was one year old. Picture that trip. That may be why my Dad didn’t come along until 1915. Aunt Ruth was born in 1918, in the midst of the flu epidemic. My Uncle Dean in 1921.

The 20s were prosperous as Pop was recognized in 1928 as having the most sales in South Dakota by McCormick-Deering. So prosperous that Uncle Keith came along that same year in 1928 when she was 43.

And then the 30s. She persevered while Pop strived to keep the business going while two kids went off to college. The family marvels and still wonders how they were able to pull it off.

In the 40s she saw two of her sons go off to war, one of them in the thick of things. Her youngest son, Uncle Keith, enrolled in the Naval Academy, but she unfortunately never lived to see him graduate.

Emma had suffered from goiter problems her entire life, giving her weight problems, then suffered from diabetes in her later years. She died January 31, 1950, a year before her second grandchild, Michael was born. You remember Michael. He’s the anesthesiologist at Shriner’s hospital in Sacramento.

She never saw Mike. However, I remember her encouraging Uncle Dean to meet the new nurse that had come to town who would eventually be my Aunt Lovella, my favorite aunt and Michael’s Mom. My Aunt Lovella, there’s another Mother’s Day story.

C. Close
Emma, Grandmother Emma, Mother Emma. Here’s her Bible. One of my treasures. I doubt that I would have served you these past six years if it were not for Grandma Emma’s faith.

Emma, you might say that she followed Hakon as the Biblical Ruth had followed Naomi, “Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” From the comfort of a life in Wisconsin to the wild and unforgiving west. “Where you go, I will go.”

Emma went and was a witness to her faith in every circle she traveled. And that includes mine.

“A good woman, a good mother, where will you find? She is far more precious than diamonds.” Happy Mother’s Day. Amen.