Here's the latest picture of Mom taken 3-24-2000. This is the newest edition to our family and Mom's newest great-grandchild.....my son's first child Sadie Massey Letterman.

Mom and Dad at Lisa's wedding about ten years agp.

Thelma is the daughter of Oscar and Callie ADAMS-HAMPTON

BORN: 5-21-1930

DIED: Still living

MARRIED: John Alogan BIAS, Jr. (J.R. BIAS) 9-2-1947 at Mountain Home, AR. He was the son of John Alogan, Sr. and Amie Malinda FRIEND-BIAS, born 8-10-1930, died 10-21-1997, buried Lutie Cemetery, Theodosia, MO.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE BIAS GENEALOGY RESEARCH HOMEPAGE (with pictures) FOR MY DAD'S FAMILY

CHILDREN:

1. Thelma Louise (ME), b. 12-16-1950 MARRIED: 1. Ronald Letterman, 2. Michael CINCOTTA, 3. Roy RAMEY 4. Larry HILL...Took me awhile to figure it out...:-)...but I FINALLY got it right!

GO TO MY FTM PAGE HERE

My kids when young.

2. Katherine Lorene, b. 4-27-1952, married Cecil Rex LOFTIS 8-29-1969. He was b. 11-17-1951 the son of "Sonny" and Freda (FRIEND) LOFTIS.

GO TO FTM PAGE HERE

3. Lisa Michelle, b. 8-7-1968, married Paul VanDyke 5-3-1988

GO TO FTM PAGE HERE

....I wrote this poem for Mom in October 1997....

A TRIBUTE TO MY MOM

My Momma's hair's a little gray
There's laugh lines around her eyes
Her smile's as warm as it's ever been
It seems to light up the skies

Her hands have many times kept me from harm
As I walked along life's dark path
And even a time or two,, I guess
I've felt the sting of their wrath

I usually deserved the spank, I'm sure
Or else it would not have been
But those hands of hers were always there
To reach out a hand to lend

Whether to me or to someone else
She is usually the first one there
Working hard and finishing the job
When the load was sometimes hard to bear

She'd bounce me up and down on her knee
When I was too small to walk
She'd sing and hum and read to me
Before I could even talk

Her legs have walked a million miles
Her feet were sometimes tired
But she never gave up....no matter how tired
I think that's what I've MOST admired

In this time of my life, I think of the times
When I thought she was sometimes mean
But then I think of the person I've become
And forget what I thought as a teen

If not for my Mom, I'm not sure I would be
The kind of person you see
And because of her guidance and the love she gave
I'm pretty proud now to be me

I give her the credit for all that I am
Because she never gave up on me
Even when I sometimes gave up on myself
She somehow knew what I could be

Thank you, Mom, for sticking by me
When others would pass me by
Without your guidance and unending love
I might have always lived a lie

My sister sent me this below and it was so true of motherhood so I wanted to share.

A young mother set her feet on the pathway of life.

"Is the way long?" she asked.

And her guide said, "Yes, and the way is hard and you will be old before you reach the end of it, but the end will be better than the beginning." But the young mother was happy and would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children and gathered flowers for them along the way and bathed with them in the clear springs. The sun shone on them and life was good and the young mother cried, "Nothing will be lovelier than this."

Then the night came and the storms and the path was dark and the children shook with fear and cold. And the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, "Oh, Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near and we know that no harm can come to us."

And the mother said, "This is better than the brightness of the day, for I have taught my children courage."

And the morning came and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary too, but at all times she said to the children, "A little patience and we are there." So the children climbed and climbed and when they reached the top, they said, "Mother, we could not have done it without you."

And when the mother lay down to sleep that night, she looked up at the stars and said, "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness.

Yesterday I gave them courage -- today I gave them strength."

And the next day the strange clouds came, clouds of war and hate and evil. And the children groped and stumbled, but the mother said, "Look up. Lift up your eyes to the Light."

And the children looked up and saw above the clouds the Everlasting Glory and it guided them and brought them beyond the darkness.

And that night the mother said, "This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."

And the days went on and the years, and mother grew old, and she was little and bent. But her children were tall and strong and walked with courage. And when the way was hard, they helped their mother and when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was light as a feather.

And at last they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and gates flung wide and the mother said, "I have reached the end of my journey and I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them."

And the children said, "You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates."

And they stood and watched her as she went on alone and the gates closed after her and they said, "We cannot see her but she is with us still. A mother like ours is more than a memory -- she is a living presence."

by Temple Bailey

BACK TO HOME PAGE

WEZEY@WEBTV.NET