My mother, Madeline Ann (Knight) Perdue, was a jewel and a beautiful rose! She was nicknamed "sweet" and that's because she was. Her innocence and belief that everyone was good made her a lot of friends throughout her life. She made everyone she came in contact with feel good about theirselves. For me, her constant support was only really understood when she was gone. She died in 1992 of CML, or leukemia. It was a sad time for she was really at her prime. I miss her dearly, every day of my life.
Mom enjoyed the Padres like Dad, but yearned for other things that she rarely could experience. She was a lover of music, theatre, the cinema, Judy Garland, and Jimmy Stewart to name a few. She would often sit down at our badly out of tune piano and play the one song she knew by heart, "Goldmine in the Sky". But she played it well. She'd jump to the jitterbug at the first sound of a swing band! And there was the El Dorado Hop!
She was quick with the tears to express her emotions. She was quick to help someone in trouble. And rarely forgot a birthday with at least a card.
She lost her mom when she was about 16 years old and had to help raise her only sister, Audrey while her Dad worked to support both of them. She was born in El Dorado, Arkansas in 1926. She worked most of her life at Wilson Insurance Agency, in Chula Vista, CA where she was well loved by all.
One of the greatest statements about her life was as she lie dying in the hospital so many of her friends struggled to be near her. Dad didn't have a ceremony for her passing (it was too difficult for him), but the fact that so many came to see her told me how much she was loved by those outside our family. My own love is too large to measure. I miss her so much.
