Today, March 17, was my beloved mom Victoria‘s birthday. 
Here are some things I want you to know about my Mom:
She was a strong and loving woman who grew up in the coal mining camps of Kentucky and West Virginia and suffered through a very difficult childhood during the Depression. She could have grown up angry and bitter however she chose to spend her life looking out for children and making their lives better than the one she had.
She loved antiques, pink roses, purple irises, wisteria, and poppies.
She loved Tim McGraw, Kid Rock, Wesley Snipes, Snoop Dog, and James Garner. She esp loved Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury.
She thought Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow should be together and it would have broken her heart if Tim and Faith ever broke up.
She loved Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, and it would have broken my heart to tell her he had died. I was grateful she had passed before he did.
She thought a woman should be President saying that a woman would not be so quick to send our boys and men into war.
She would cry and get angry when another soldier fell on the battlefield during the Gulf War.
She loved history and doing research on our area.
My grandfather Jesse, grandmother Maude, my uncle Gerald, and my mom.
She loved to cook and bake, and our kitchen was always full of cakes, cookies and cupcakes, and she would always put cake mix in a coffee cup and hand me and Gary a spoon.
She was a writer who wrote short stories and published a small book called, “Almanac for a Bored Housewife” and asked me and Daddy to draw and design the cover. I was 15.
She loved ghost stories.
When I was a little girl, she, Gary and I went to a gas station one night in Frederick. The girl came out to pump our gas and it was freezing. My mother asked her where her gloves where and the girl said she had forgotten them. My mother took off her gloves and gave them to her. I remember sitting in the back seat thinking, I want to be like that one day.
Her favorite television show was “The Twilight Zone” and her favorite movie was “Random Harvest.”
She loved the Springtime and all the flowers and lush greenery that it would bring.
The original photo I used as the cover of Weedmonkey. My uncle Gerald and my mom Victoria.
She loved watching country music videos.
She was terrified of the movie, “The Shining.”
She was scared to death of snakes.
She loved anything Victorian.
She thought commercials were ridiculous.
Her favorite color was Blue.
Her favorite trees were Mimosa, Holly, Magnolia, and Willow.
She loved Butterfingers and Werthers Caramels.
She got me hooked on “Sex and the City.”
I got her hooked on “Days Of Our Lives”.
She taught herself how to use Web-TV in her 60’s so she could check out the internet.
She was a big seller on eBay and had the ID name Vic10 because none of the other Vics were available.
She was born dead in 1929 and her Cherokee grandmother saved her life by removing the “veil” she had been born with saying, “The white doctors don’t know anything about birthin’ a Cherokee baby!”
My Cherokee great grandmother Dicie, who brought my mother back to life as a baby.
As a child, she fell into the hole in an outhouse, landing in the “basement” and her father and some men had to tip it over in order to save her as she was drowning in the debris.
She and my Dad were the 4-H leaders for Pleasant Valley and she was the PTA President for Pleasant Valley Elementary School and made many changes to the area.
She volunteered countless hours at the school helping children learn how to read and write. Every life she ever touched can remember “Miss Proulx.”
She is responsible for the flashing light at the end of Valley Road.
She idolized her grandchildren Shelley and Mandy and said both of them would do great things one day. She was so proud of them.
When spelling our last name, she would always say, “P as in Paul, R-O-U-L-X.”
She could not tell a joke to save her soul, yet she was hilarious, would come out with the craziest things, and when we laughed at her she always said, “I’m glad I am a source of amusement!”
When I would climb too high in a tree and couldn’t get down, she would climb up there and get me.
She couldn’t stand anything around her neck and would never wear turtlenecks.
She loved my cooking and always told me I should cook for a restaurant.
After she passed, I baked some homemade yeast rolls and left her one on the counter with a note.
At her memorial service, I played all of her favorite songs including, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen and “Memories” from the musical Cats.
When we were little, she would sing, “Summertime” to me and Gary as we went to sleep.
She let us roller skate in the house.
She loved Butter Pecan ice cream.
She was a 3rd generation psychic/medium who grew up in an era where people didn’t talk about such things.
Her other grandmother Mallie Victoria whom I am named after.
A chicken once attacked her when she was trying to save a baby chick, the hen jumped on her head, and my dad shot it off at about 50 feet away.
She had the patience of a saint.
She owned her own antique shop on our farm back in the 1970’s called “Vicki’s Antiques” and she was the first person on Valley Road to have a yard sale. She went on to co-own “Boonsboro Antiques and Flea Market” and ran it for 12 years. Then she owned “Victoria’s” in Hagerstown for several more.
She had a life worth remembering and today is not a sad day. It is a day we remember a beautiful woman who was a wonderful mother, wife and friend. A quiet, graceful Cherokee who could see beyond people’s faults and mistakes, someone who saw the good in everyone and made each of them her friend.
I was proud to call her Ma.
She had a good life … and she had a good death … surrounded by love. She is loved and fondly remembered today and every day.
Happy Birthday Ma! I love you and miss you so much! ♥♥♥
WEEDMONKEY available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle eBook:
Lisa V. Proulx, Author/Speaker 