Last Update: 10 January 2004
Following are photos taken in Monterey, VA, from 1992 to 2001. Unattributed photos are by the author, John Sweet.
Mother joined the Monterey Garden Club when she moved here, mostly as a way of meeting folks rather than a great personal interest in gardening. Here we see her as hostess for a meeting in July 1992. This was taken in the garden of her neighbor, Joan Atkeson, where the meeting was held. Photo by Joan or Tom Atkeson.
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| Mother with her son at a Penn State Outing Club reunion at the Mustoe community building, 3 July 1993. Photo by Suzanne O’Connor. | Mother with Cleo on the porch of the Sweet farmhouse in Mustoe, 13 September 1992. Cleo had adopted us only three days before; clearly she has made herself at home. |
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Mother on her porch in Monterey with her fuchsia, which had been a Mothers Day present back in May. Photo taken on John’s birthday, 27 Spetember 1992. |
Mother with her family on her 94th birthday, 14 December 1999. That’s me at right, my wife, Char, is at left, and our youngest daughter, Kathy Gregg, is at the back. Approaching the nadir of her illness, she does not look very well.
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Mother with Jeanne Reedy, her “Chief of Staff,” also on her birthday. Mother is holding an antique plate she had given to Jeanne earlier. It is a hostess plate, given to the hostess by a visitor in the home. This plate was given to my grandmother, Anna Randall Ochiltree, in Avoca, Iowa, before 1910. Mother remembers it displayed on a rack in the dining room when she was a little girl. |
Joyce Sweitzer was one of Mother’s helpers. Joyce brought her out to the farm in Mustoe to see the mountain laurel in bloom, 3 June 2000. We drove up onto the ridge where is grows in profusion. This was one of the last times we were able to get out into the woods.
JoAnn Hull was another of Mother’s helpers. JoAnn was enamored of this huge vase that was for sale in a local gallery so we all got it for her as a present. 30 July 2000.
Mother in her living room with John and Char, 29 April 2001. The painting at upper left was by her sister, Margaret Rogerson. The photo in the fancy frame at lower right is of the house where she lived in Peking seventy years earlier. Photo by Ann Somerville.
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Mother with her geranium, 1 July 2001. Another Mothers Day present, we have kept this plant going and it is now in its fourth year. We hung it in the library during her memorial service, sadly not blooming as profusely as it had been only a few days before. It has never again been as dense and lush as it is here. This is the same location as the fuchsia picture, above. The building was given new siding a couple of years earlier so it looks quite different now. |