O.T. My Mother's Birthday
#5
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Today my Mom would have been 99 years young – she was an amazing woman and mother – although she was never overly fond of children, because Joan and I were such charmers, she came around and we were so lucky to have her! As a grandma, she overcame all aversions to children and was such a wise and loving Grandma and Great-Grandma.

Here is a short bio my sister, Joan, and I wrote to add to the family’s copies of my cookbook, ‘a Chef’s Journey…Home’
“Catherine Norman Fry Shelledy Roy - September 15, 1917 – April 7 2009
Catherine passed away in Marysville, Washington after a short illness at the age of 91 on April 7, 2009. She was born in Allard, Benton County, Washington, to Vernita pioneers, Leslie and Gertrude Fry. An only child, she had cousins that she grew up and played with on a 200 acre chicken and fruit ranch in Vernita on the Columbia River.

She attended the Vernita and Cold Creek schools, skipping the first grade and graduating from high school at sixteen and graduated from Business School in Yakima. She married a high school sweetheart William J. Shelledy, son of another Washington pioneer family, Lloyd and Cora Shelledy, of Cold Creek, in 1936. They had two daughters, Joan and Jean, and divorced in 1947. She said the biggest regret she had in her young life was that she did not go against her family’s wishes and learn to fly and become a licensed pilot. In later years she became an accomplished cook and in another era would have become a wonderful chef.

In the early 1940s the U.S. Government paid her parents twenty-five cents on the dollar for their Vernita property during the take-over of properties for the Manhattan Project, which became Hanford Nuclear Plant. They had three weeks to vacate their property and were unable to harvest the ready to be picked crops on the ranch before being forced to leave their home.

Catherine raised her two daughters in Yakima, while working a number of years at a local trucking company, Lee & Estes. During this time she met and married the love of her life, Francis E. ‘Bud’ Roy in 1952. In the 1960s they moved to California and made their home the center of their neighborhood, hosting dinner parties and gatherings for many years. They also loved their travels through Europe and Hawaii until ‘Bud’s’ death in 1975.

Her later years were spent finding classical and varied ethnic recipes to offer wonderful dinners for friends and family. She was a fantastic and inventive cook sharing and trading recipes with any and all friends and strangers.”

I miss her each and every day! RIP Mom

[Image: sept%2014%20003_zpskmcv38uy.jpg]
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#6
  Re: O.T. My Mother's Birthday by cjs (Today my Mom would h...)
So beautifully written, Jean.
Maryann

"Drink your tea slowly and reverently..."
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#7
  Re: Re: O.T. My Mother's Birthday by Mare749 (So beautifully writt...)
Beautiful, Jean! Happy birthday, Mom!
Daphne
Keep your mind wide open.
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#8
  Re: Re: O.T. My Mother's Birthday by Gourmet_Mom (Beautiful, Jean! Ha...)
Happy Birthday, Mom! What a wonderful tribute!!
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