today, i present to you the *highly* anticipated interview with my mother, sue victoria mccorkle pitre.
oh MAN have i been excited about finally doing this entry!!!
cos my mom is amazing!!!
in fact, a few nights ago, i experienced a gracious reminder of my mother’s love in the form of two photo albums full of cards. see, when i was growing up, mom kept *every single* card i ever received and carefully preserved them in albums, which i now keep under a side table in my living room. i hadn’t looked at this collection in ages, so when i happened to randomly spy them the other night, i began flipping through the yellowed pages, crammed with strawberry shortcake birthday cards and slumber party invitations. included among these mementos are hand-written lists my mother kept of every birthday gift i received (so i could dutifully follow up with thank you notes). the cards brought on a sweet wave of nostalgia, but i was struck even more by the gesture of love inherent in this carefully archived collection. with every page, i could *feel* how much my mother loved me, how much she made me the center of her life, how much she was with me at every step on the road.
i count myself among a blessed minority of the earth’s population, because i can say, with absolute and beautiful clarity, that i have *never* had a time in my life when i did not feel loved.
and that is all due to my parents.
i’ve already outlined the many reasons why i have the best dad in the world, and now it’s time to explain (briefly, otherwise this blog would border on eternity) why my mom is pretty much the queen of my universe.
mom and me during our “just girls” trip to NYC last summer.
1. The Little Things
mom is basically the world’s leading on expert on how to transmit love via small, thoughtful gestures. from notes in my lunchbox to secretly folding my laundry when i bring it over to her house (yes, that is in the present tense), she is always finding little ways to remind me that i matter. her example inspires me to constantly remind my loved ones how much i care about them; in other words, you can thank her for my repeated outbursts of “I LOVE YOU GUYS!”
2. Everyone’s Family
i know several people who consider my mom to be their second mother, because she has always taken an active interest in my friends. in fact, “active interest” is an understatement. half the time i’m talking to my mom, she’s asking me questions like, “so how’s talena doing?” and “what does meredith’s engagement ring look like?!!” it’s almost like i’m the people magazine of my friends, and my mom is our most loyal subscriber. when i lived at home, i was always encouraged to invite friends over, and they would inevitably stay for dinner at my mom’s request. our house was a museum of love, curated by my mother.
3. The Librarian
as you will soon discover, my mom used to be a librarian, and one of the greatest gifts she has given me is a love for reading. when i was growing up, she would always volunteer at my school library, where i would often go and meet her at the end of the day. the library at my elementary school was located in a charming old house, and i treasure my memories of those sweet afternoons when i would curl up by the window with a book while my mom and mrs. nolan, the librarian, chatted themselves into a life-long friendship (they still keep in touch to this day).
mom and me during our family trip to d.c. i was totally rockin’ that headband.
4. Do the Right Thing
my conscience has a v. strong voice, and it sounds remarkably like my mother. along with *her* mother (mama helen), my mom possesses the most sturdy moral compass i’ve ever come across; i feel like i could conquer a mount everest of problems with the tools she has given me. over and over again, my mother gently taught me how to live my life honorably and compassionately. as i get older, i see how rare some of those values are in this world, and i am incredibly thankful that i witnessed them every day as my mother’s daughter.
they say parents are judged by the quality of their children, and i hope you can see why it matters, it really matters, that i do my mother justice.
now, don’t you feel lucky that you’re about to spend some quality internet time with this incredible lady?
ok, mom, let’s get this interview started! i’m excited! i’d like to start with yr parents (my grandparents). can you tell me a little bit about mama helen and granddad– where they’re from, how they met, what they did?
Your grandfather was born in 1908 and grew up in Chicago. He went to college and then started law school (his father was an attorney) but decided to get into the retail business. He started working for Sears in 1932 and worked all over the country. He said he liked opening new stores, especially in California. Meanwhile, your grandmother came into the world in Ponder, Texas, in 1918. She had 5 brothers and one sister. She grew up in Baytown, Texas, attended Lee College there and graduated from TWU in 1936. She went to work for the YWCA and then for the USO. Granddad had joined the army after 1941 and was stationed at a camp near Bay City, Texas. Mama Helen was organizing activities for the USO in Bay City. She planned dances for the area women and the soldiers. Granddad came to one of the dances and asked her to dance. She declined, saying she was working, but he persisted.
gordon and helen. they made a striking couple, didn’t they?
They were married in February of 1944. Did you know that Paw and Nana were married in January of the same year! After the war ended and Granddad returned from Europe, he and Mama Helen moved to Laborite, Indiana, and he resumed his job with Sears. My brother Scott was born in 1945, so Mama Helen became a stay at home mom. Then I came along in 1946 so she was a busy mother!
i love this picture, cos you can clearly see how much helen adored her precious little sue.
mom’s first birthday, with darling scott and proud papa. my grandfather was so handsome!
you’re the middle child, between uncle scott and uncle david. tell me about your life with two brothers!
Uncle Scott and I are 16 months apart and then Uncle David came 9 years later. Scott had a difficult birth and as a result he has learning disabilities. When I was in the second grade, your grandparents found a great school for Scott in Richardson, Texas. We were living in Wichita, Kansas, so that was far away and I had difficulty adjusting to his absence. For about four years, I was an only child. Scott did come home in the summers and holidays. When David came along, he was like a doll I could play with!!
mom and her favorite doll. check that shoe and sock combo!
We were all back together when Scott finished school and I was going into the 8th grade. At that time we were living on 80 acres outside Wichita and your grandparents were raising sheep. Scott even had a pet sheep named Patsy who stayed on the back porch until we persuade her to return to the other sheep.
mom and scott totally had their own neighborhood bike gang! i had no idea i was following in her footsteps…
just like dad, you moved around a lot when you were growing up, since granddad worked for sears. tell me every place you’ve lived and which cities you liked the most (and the least).
I was born in Indiana. Then we moved to Michigan, next to Kansas, then Nebraska. Granddad decided to retire in 1965, the year I graduated from high school. Then he and Mama Helen bought some property outside of Aurora, Missouri, and built a retirement home there. I started college, attending a small school in Emporia, Kansas and then transferred to Southwest Missouri State in Springfield, Missouri. Your grandparents had a hard time staying in one place and I think they moved 5 more times after Aurora! I guess I liked Wichita the best and Omaha the least. I went to three different high schools so it was hard to make friends.
mom’s totally adorable school picture (dad thinks she looks like dorothy).
what did you do for fun when you were a kid?
We spent a lot of time outside. My favorite thing to do was to play “dress up” with Valerie, my next door neighbor. I had this really neat old suitcase that had a couple of long ball gown dresses my Grandmother gave me. With a few hats and old rhinestone jewelry (which I really wish I had now), Valerie and I looked fabulous!! When we got a black and white TV, Scott and I watched Howdy Doody and the Mickey Mouse Club. There were some amusements parks in Wichita and sometimes we went there. Every so often we would go the movies and even the drive in ones. I was in Campfire Girls, starting out as a Bluebird and then moving up to a Campfire girl. Mama Helen was our group leader. When we moved out to the farm, it was too far away to attend meetings. I did join 4H and participated in some projects, until we moved again.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE. SO MUCH. esp. scott’s hat and mom’s elegant fur stole.
what did you think you would be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a flight attendant or airline hostess as they were called then.
how would you describe yourself as a teenager?
I was an introvert and was not involved in many activities. I was in the Spanish club in high school. I was in a play in junior high but did not do anything in high school. My high school was a school for two years and then became a junior high. I think the school administration did not encourage many clubs or organizations since the school would change in two years. However, they did play football and basketball. Oh, that reminds me, I was in the pep club for a year—I had forgotten about that!
mom, i really really wish you had saved this dress so that i could wear it. you look so classy and beautiful!
what kind of music did you like?
I liked rock and classical music. I took piano lessons in elementary school and even though I did not like to practice, I did like the music. Always wanted to learn to play Beethoven and Chopin but without practicing that was impossible!
when i was growing up, you gave me your original copies of “anne of green gables” and “the secret garden” to read. were those some of yr favorite books as an adolescent? what other novels did you treasure?
I LOVED Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames (she was a nurse), and some books about an airline hostess, but can’t remember her name. Then I discovered Anne, Honeybunch, the Bobbsy Twins and many others. In junior high Arthur Conon Doyle and Sherlock Holmes grabbed me as well as other authors. The Bronte sisters, Jane Austin, Margaret Mitchell and so many more authors kept me busy in high school. I liked mysteries too. Reading is still my favorite thing to do.
did you work when you were in high school?
I did not have job but I did a lot of babysitting.
where did you go to college? did you ever face any sexism as a woman attending a university? were there different expectations or rules for girls than for boys?
My first two years of college were spent at Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia, Kansas. It is now called Emporia College. The last two years were in Springfield, Missouri, at Southwest Missouri State, now called University of Missouri at Springfield, I think. I received a BS in Education, so I can teach English anywhere. No sexism that I remember, but we had very strict rules, i.e. No pants unless you were bowling, 11:00 curfew on weekends. I was an RA in the dorm my second year in school and part of the job was to work on the switchboard. Does anyone know what that is? I answered the phones for the dorm. How’s that for ancient history!! I do believe the boys had a lot more freedom. There were not many rules for them. I do not remember if the boys had a curfew. No coed dorms in 1965 in my small Kansas town. Rules were not so strict in Springfield but I think the dorms still did have hours. I lived in an apartment and that gave me unlimited freedom.
no pants unless you were bowling?!!!!! uh, wow. talk about pantsism!!
mom’s engagement picture… that hair flip is extraordinary. p.s. unlike her prom dress, she actually did save this one, and now it’s in my closet!
what inspired you to become a librarian? and why did you pick LSU for your graduate work?
My mother’s sister was a librarian and I decided that would be something I could see myself doing. She had experience in school, college and public libraries and was well known in library circles in Texas. I talked to her about what I should do. My first college had a graduate program for library science, but after I took a couple of courses, I thought the faculty was mostly 50+in years and I wanted younger professors.
what was your first librarian job like?
My first job as a librarian was in a high school in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was a unique experience! The school was in a minority area in Lake Charles. There were, maybe, 10 white students in the schools and the rest were African American. Growing up, I lived in a white community and there were few black students in the three high schools I attended. My job was to take care of the library, catalog and order new books and have a few “How to use the Library classes”. I suppose I had a hard time understanding why anyone would not want to be in or use the library. So many of the students did not know how to read or did not enjoy reading. It was definitely a challenge to teach and encourage students who do not even want to be in school. This was the first time I had ever encountered kids who stole books. On the plus side, I formed a library club and in the meetings we would talk about books and reading. At the end of the school year the club had enough money to take a bus to Galveston and spend the day at the beach. This was the first time some of the students had ever been out of Lake Charles or Louisiana.
a field trip to galveston?! mom, you were totally a cool school librarian.
ok now back up and tell me about meeting dad! i’ve already heard his side of the story, but I want to get yr perspective on the random hippie dude who gave you a ride one day.
Dad and I met one day when he drove his car to the campus and offered me and the girl I was walking with a ride. I think I had seen him before, riding his bike to school. We lived in the same apartment complex. Can’t remember if he asked me out then or of it was another time when we saw each other. Our first date was a Halloween party one of his friends gave!
how did dad propose to you?!!
I was a part of the program at LSU to partner students and elementary school students from lower income neighborhoods (maybe like Big Brothers/Big Sisters).There was a group activity and Dad took me. After we dropped off James at his home, Dad and I drove back to my apartment. Before we got out of the car, Dad gave me a bottle of champagne and my engagement ring was hanging around the neck of the bottle. He asked me to marry him and I said yes.
just married!! mom, you look so beautiful, and so does that cake!! dad, nice hair.
champers!! way to go, dad.
share a few memories of yr early married life. i love hearing about my hipster twenty something parents!
Our first home was a furnished apartment in Lake Charles. Naturally, right after our 2 day honeymoon to New Orleans, Dad was sent offshore for work. It was an adjustment for both of us since we were not used to sharing rooms and beds! That double bed was just not big enough!!We did meet two other newlywed couples in the complex and did things together, like spur-of-the moment trips to Astroworld and dinner parties. Lake Charles did not have tons of places to go for fun, but Dad and I had a small sail boat so we would take it out on the lake. I also had a yellow MGB sports convertible, with a matching MG jacket!
mom, you were totally stylin’!!!
i dig the matching hair and glasses. hipsterific!
what was life like after you moved to houston?
Life was faster paced in Houston. Dad worked downtown and I even worked for Conoco for a couple of months, doing clerical work. I got a job at a bookstore near the Galleria until I was able to start working for the Harris County Library. We had a nice apartment on San Felipe, near Voss. It was exciting to be in a large city and even more fun to make new friends. After Dad left Conoco and went to work for the engineering firm, we had a lot of great times with some of the people he worked with and their wives and girlfriends.
ok, so now I will enter the picture (yes!). did you have any weird cravings when you were pregnant with me? like, say, mac ‘n’ cheese? cupcakes? reese’s?
The only thing I really craved was chocolate milk!
dad, mom, and me (as a bump), christmas 1978.
did you know, in advance, that you wanted to be a stay at home mom, or did this decision just kind of evolve organically?
I think the idea of staying at home did indeed evolve organically. I wanted to be the best mother I could and I was blessed to be able to stay home with you. Dad was gone often so my staying at home worked out to be the best for all of us.
i’ll ask you the same narcissistic question i asked dad: what was it like to be my mom?
It has been one of the most fulfilling times in my life. It was and is a joyful experience.
as you can see, it was a joyful experience for both of us.
how would you compare your childhood to mine? when i was growing up, did i ever remind you of yourself?
Mama Helen said I was always a very adventurous child. I don’t think you were as daring but you did like the teacup ride at Disneyworld and the roller coasters at Astroworld! You always had friends over and were involved in many after school activities (art, music, scouts and more) and I do not remember doing much like that.
what sort of ideal did you strive for as a mother? what were the values you sought to instill in me?
I wanted to be the mother to you that my mother was for me. She had two other children so her time with me was more limited. I wanted you to love God, put other people before yourself and pursue a satisfying career, whatever that turned out to be. I wanted you to be self reliant but also to depend on God. I think being honest and truthful is one of the most important values I sought to instill in you.
mom, instilling her love of reading in me. p.s. from this angle, she looks exactly like i do now. crazy!
mom, you know how much I love yr beef stroganoff. wow did you learn to cook?
Like most girls, I learned to cook from my mother. I did go to a neat cooking class in the 5th grade, through the Campfire Girls. I also had lots of practice with two brothers. Your Uncle David is also talented in the kitchen!
you’ve done a lot of volunteer work since I was born. tell me about one of your favorite volunteer experiences.
One of the most fun volunteer works I did was in Lafayette, Louisiana. The history museum had a large dinosaur exhibit, the kind with the animals that move and make noise. I was a tour guide for school groups. The kids were always excited about the tours!!
mom’s volunteering was captured at an early age by a life magazine photographer!
you and i watched the v. first episode of buffy together, and ever since then, you have consistently out-cooled me with yr viewing habits, like “gilmore girls” and “roswell.” since you are obvs on the cutting edge, which current shows would you recommend?
Thanks for thinking of me being on the cutting edge! There aren’t many shows like the ones listed above. I am watching Fringe and am looking forward to Life on Mars, Eleventh Hour, and Dollhouse. I also like the Sarah Connors Chronicles.
what is yr secret power?
I am a mother—they have lots of secret powers!
like the secret power of hugs! this picture is from our girl scout train trip, which was seriously the coolest thing ever.
do you sleep in jimjams? what kind?
T-shirt and pj bottoms
what is yr #1 favorite food?
Lamb
what is yr top restaurant recommendation in austin? what’s the best thing on the menu?
Z Tejas, everything!
tell me about yr top area of expertise.
Spelling and grammar. You should know everything I learned about diagramming sentences, I learned in the 6th grade. I was an English major in college.
this photo is from our trip to hawaii for dad’s high school reunion. i remember secretly liking mom’s dress more than mine, cos it was pink. what i don’t remember is how AWESOME my haircut was.
what was yr favorite item of clothing as a child?
I had a yellow dress I wore for Easter.
what was yr favorite toy as a child? (the moody bonus question)
My Terri Lee doll and her beautiful clothes
what do you plan on doing when you’re 80?
Attending classes, reading and taking care of Dad.
me and my proud parents at my rice graduation. this photo makes me squee.
if you could assemble yr own ocean’s 11, who would you pick and why?
I think all my group would be some of my family plus your extremely talented friends—the best of the best.
what is yr best karaoke song?
I don’t do karaoke
mom, we must rectify this situation immediately.
tell me something scandalous!
When I was 4 years old, I took Scott and we ran away from home. Not really, but we walked across a major road and down the street to a house that I wanted to look at! It was probably 4 or 5 blocks away from home. Your grandmother was not happy with me!
whoah, mom!! i’m shocked! the only time i ran away from home, i ended up under the dining room table with a box of thin mints.
mom, thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of my questions. it means so much to me to record your history and experiences, and reading about them makes me feel even more blessed to be your daughter.
i love you mom!
p.s. pants world, don’t forget that you can ask questions in the comments!
LINKS
amy poehler’s new tv show just got better… will arnett better!!!!!!
this is one of the sweetest stories ever. which i’m sure lifetime will make into a movie and ruin.
moody sent me this video of an elephant in houston helping out with hurricane clean-up. GAH why are elephants so great?!!!!
my favorite cat, winston, really likes blueberries. and fingers.
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