In Memory of My Mother, Mary B.

My mother worked hard all of her life. She came from a large family of which she was the oldest. She helped with the younger children. Then when she married my father, she had me. I, of course, don't remember what she worked then. I was too small. She divorced my father before I was 2.

My stepfather, who she was with for about 9 years, was an alcoholic and would drink with all the money he could find and then would come home and beat my mother. She would try hiding the money from him but he always seemed to be able to find it. She still managed to keep us fed and in clothes. I remember during this time she had up to 3 jobs just trying to keep a roof over our heads. I know she was a waitress and I think she was a nurses aide during some of this time also.

She had my two brothers with him. She lost quite a few of the babies due to a collapsed uterus.

She would sew dresses for me when she could so that I would have some pretty clothes. I remember once in school we were doing a square dance routine for the parents and she sewed me a lovely dotted swiss dress with red background and white polka dots. It was my pride and joy. When she didn't have the time to sew me clothes, she would either go to the Salvation Army or yard sales. We didn't always like what she found at these places but we did have clothes to wear.

Mom remarried my dad when I was 12. She still had to work but this time it was because it was taking two incomes to keep a house running. She worked as a nurses aide and as a waitress sometimes, I think. My dad took her and us 3 children to take care of. One of my brothers asked my dad to adopt him. So my brother, Tony, became a Bingham also.

After I married my first husband, mom, dad and my brothers moved to Virginia, IL where she spent the rest of her life when she wasn't at Cloud 9.

Back in the 70s, mom and dad opened a restaurant called Mary B's. It was very popular. She cooked home style meals at a reasonable price for her customers. Everything except the canned vegetables were fresh. When her and dad adopted my sister, mom would take her to work with her and put her in a drawer as a bed. My two brothers would be the dishwashers when they weren't in school. Eventually, mom and dad closed the restaurant down because of the rising costs of food and not being able to keep the prices down. Mom wanted to spend more time at home with my sister also.