Ruth E Bryan – Mom, born, Jul 6, 1907

Seamstress? Ah yes, and more,

For she’s not confined to new cloth

With perfect pattern and match.

Give her one that has seen the moth

Some castoff of yester yore,

She’ll renew it with the neatest patch.

 

Well educated? Not as the world sees;

And early-teen illness forced her out

Of her Ohio school, Rutland High.

Crossword puzzles oft made her scout,

And constant Bible reading (if you please)

Brought education nearer by.

 

Kitchen Queen?  Oh yes, and then some,

Potato salad diced ever so small.

The aroma and taste of homemade bread,

Pumpkin pies, and apricot, fall by fall,

In short, a kitchen that said, “Come,

You’ll be well filled, tastefully fed.”

 

Theologian?  Again, one would doubt

Such a term should well apply,

But the Book she reads so much,

With open heart and dampened eye,

That words inserted or left out

Or meanings wrong – she detects such.

 

Meek?  All her friends readily agree,

Those who have known days long past,

Those who met her this week,

That had God sought to form a cast,

In which to shape humility,

This soul would say, “For this I seek.”

 

Staunch?  Staunchness with meekness?

Definitely!  Meek in matters personal,

Staunch in those of right and wrong.

The dark eyes flash in ways – terminal!

Opposing sinfulness isn’t her weakness,

Whether agreed or opposed by the throng.

 

Helpful?  In so many, many ways!

It has been her nature – fits her life,

To lift, to give, “to pray” with feet,

As “Mom Bryan,” great Mom, or loving wife.

For friends now and those of western days,

Blessing others has made her complete.

 

Describe the lady?  How?

Who is poet?  Who can tell

In such few words, right here and now,

What she has “written” long and well. –eab, 7/82