Lessons Learned

Bear with me as I bring myself back around to writing again. I arrived on Tuesday, October 7th to be with my family as we helped our mother in her final days. They are days I will write about and days that will not soon be forgotten

The stories she told us and lessons learned in those days will become clear. My writing will be a release for me and also a way to impart some of her wisdom into your lives. I have learned to be content with my circumstances through out the years. Much of that I owe to my mother.

As I complete these last few days helping my father start to rearrange his life, I know that my sister and brothers will all be there to brighten his days. Each of us will cherish his remaining days and in knowing that our mother rests with angels.

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Gone From Our Sight

Gone From My Sight
by Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...

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Passing Of A Loved One

Rose Marie Primm
(January 27, 1931 - October 14, 2008)

Rose Marie Primm, 77, of Fremont died Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008, in Fremont, Nebraska.

Rose Marie Gale was born Jan. 27, 1931, in Hawarden, Plymouth County, Iowa, to Ralph F. and Josephine R. (Boden) Gale. She was schooled in Akron, Iowa, and Sioux City, Iowa, graduating from Sioux City Central in 1948. She married William L. “Bill” Primm of Elk Point, S.D., on Sept. 26, 1949, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Akron, Iowa. They moved to the Fremont and Cedar Bluffs area in 1951.

She was credit manager and store manager during 19 years of employment at Philips Department Store at Fremont Mall from 1967 to 1986. She was also an active member of Credit Women’s International, Altrusa, Crimestoppers and the Personnel Managers Association. She also lived in Elk Point for 15 years, working as a county social worker, a charter member of the Union County Historical Society and was a 30-year genealogist.

Surviving her is her husband of 59 years, Bill; daughter, Pam; sons, Jeff, Jim (and wife, Jeanine Helen) of Fremont, Jerry (and wife, Linda) of Omaha, John (and wife, Karin) of Gillette, Wyo., and Joe (and wife, Laura) of Buford, Ga. She is the proud and loving grandmother of 19 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. She also has several nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law, dear cousins, Aunt Sylvia and many friends.

Preceding her in death were daughter, Patricia (Primm) Goeschel; parents, Ralph and Josephine Gale; and brothers, Gerald, Arnold and Arthur.

A memorial service was held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, October 17 at Moser Memorial Chapel in Fremont. The Rev. Ron Battiato of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Fremont officiated. Burial took place on Saturday, October 18 in Elk Point, SD. Her wishes were for her cremains to be buried in the Elk Point cemetery family plot and at her favorite ancestral area of Cobh, Ireland, near the Celtic Sea.

Memorials may be donated to Pancreatic Cancer Research or Diabetes Research funds.

What is life?

As I sit here with my father, brothers and sister comforting my dying mother, she continues to teach us as she continues her final steps to God's eternal love. I felt a powerful urge to share two thoughts that she spoke last night. The words speak deeply on their own. It is my mother's gift to all of you for you to share with others.

What is life? Life is prayer.

Prayer was for us before we knew what it was about.
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