Meet Delores
Nominated by her daughter, Miss Kay
“Before I was a lunch lady feeding other people's babies, my mama was doing the very same thing.”
About her
My mama, Delores, was about as tough and loving as they come.
She lived to be 99 years old and raised eight children. By the time her life was done, that family had grown into more than 20 grandkids, more than 40 great-grandkids, and even great-great-grandbabies.
She saw just about everything this world could throw at a person.
She lived through the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl here in Oklahoma, World War II, and more changes than most of us could ever imagine.
But no matter what was going on in the world, Mama kept working and kept taking care of people.
Before she worked at our local hospital and nursing home, Mama was a lunch lady herself, feeding schoolchildren and taking care of other people's babies. Later, she went on to work at the hospital and nursing home while raising her own family, and somehow still made sure everybody had a place to come home to.
What made her special
Mama had a way of making family feel like the most important thing in the world.
Every Sunday night, everybody gathered at her house. Kids, grandkids, whoever happened to be around - there was always room for one more.
And she showed up for her family, too.
She never missed a ball game if she could help it. Even into her 90s, Mama was still sitting in the stands at high school sporting events cheering on her great-grandkids.
Birthdays meant one thing: Mama's peanut butter cream pie.
She made one for just about anybody and everybody on their birthday, and you knew when she made you one that you were loved.
She didn't have to tell people she cared about them all the time. She showed them. Usually with a full house, a seat in the bleachers, and something good to eat.
What she taught me
Just about everything.
She taught me that taking care of a family is hard work, but it's some of the most important work you'll ever do.
She taught me to make sure people are fed. To keep the family together. To make room at the table. To work hard even when nobody's watching. And to make sure the people you love know they're loved.
A whole lot of what people see in me today came from watching her. And looking back now, I reckon it makes sense that I became a lunch lady too. Before I ever stood behind a school lunch counter feeding other people's babies, my mama had already done the very same thing.
I learned how to be a momma by watching my mama - and I guess I learned a thing or two about feeding families from her, too.
Why she deserves this
Well, I might be a little partial.
But before there was a Miss Kay feeding anybody else, there was Delores feeding us - and before I ever became a lunch lady, Mama had been one too.
She fed schoolchildren. She raised eight children of her own. She kept a Sunday table full for generations of family. And the lessons she taught me are still being passed down today.
So when we decided to start honoring great mothers through Miss Kay's, I knew exactly who had to go first. In a lot of ways, the heart behind Miss Kay's started a generation before me.
My mama.
- Miss Kay
Lightly edited for length. The words are her family's.
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Every so often I put one mom up here, in the words of whoever loves her enough to write in. There's no voting and nothing to win. She doesn't have to be having a good week, and she doesn't have to still be with us.
Tell us about her, and skip her last name, her town and her kids' names. We want to celebrate her, not put her address on the internet.