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Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Say "hello" to Wilhelmina Dole!
Hello everyone!
I'm glad you've found this little corner of the web.
This site combines a salute to my mother, Wilhelmina Dole, the issues she cared about, and creative caretaking notes.
Throughout the years, Mina worked in a beauty parlor she co-owned with her sister Mary, segue'd onto a semi-professional career singing opera in Boston and New York City (both before she got married, in 1953). After Mina married (to George Dole, in Newton, Massachusetts), she juggled motherhood and family life with a succession of volunteer causes, initially volunteering with her local church and community, later sheltering abused women (in the 1970's), and progressive causes generally, right up to 2002.
Now suffering from the effects of dementia and Parkinson's, one of Mina's latest causes was a plea for more civility in today's society. An inclusive person, to Mina this meant that people of all backgrounds should treat each other better than we have lately, especially with more respect and caring, and that we all needed to actively cultivate our improvement in these areas. As she used to tell me when I was six, "You're on your honor."
Mina has always been a very pure-hearted person, as well as a person of faith, someone who prayed daily, loved angels, and visited retired nuns in nursing homes. But she also suffered from something akin to ADD, before that sort of syndrome was very well understood, and was often punished for it, sometimes cruelly.
(We only realized she might be ADD years after realizing the same about us kids.)
Mina often had trouble reading people. An extremely trusting person, she was easy to set-up and fool or betray, and sometimes this happened to tragic ends. Her ADD undercut her effectiveness in achieving even more in life than she did - it certainly cost her a lot of respect.
With that in mind, I created this blog, to salute and carry on the kinds of causes she championed.
One thing I personally witnessed during my mother's recent illness has been the very sad state of elder care in this country. To me, and to my mother, this has been both tragic and a sin. To the extent I can, I intend to rectify that, in her honor.
In mid-2006, mom said to me, "Don't forget me." I won't, Mom. No one will. The best monument I can think of to honor her is the kind of progressive work that would make her proud. More details to come in ensuing posts.
Welcome to Mina's Place. Have a cup of Red Rose tea and take your shoes off. It's a friendly place, but it's also a focused place where we plan to get a few things done and share some ideas. :)
We're glad to see you. Relax, and keep coming back!
I'm glad you've found this little corner of the web.
This site combines a salute to my mother, Wilhelmina Dole, the issues she cared about, and creative caretaking notes.
Throughout the years, Mina worked in a beauty parlor she co-owned with her sister Mary, segue'd onto a semi-professional career singing opera in Boston and New York City (both before she got married, in 1953). After Mina married (to George Dole, in Newton, Massachusetts), she juggled motherhood and family life with a succession of volunteer causes, initially volunteering with her local church and community, later sheltering abused women (in the 1970's), and progressive causes generally, right up to 2002.
Now suffering from the effects of dementia and Parkinson's, one of Mina's latest causes was a plea for more civility in today's society. An inclusive person, to Mina this meant that people of all backgrounds should treat each other better than we have lately, especially with more respect and caring, and that we all needed to actively cultivate our improvement in these areas. As she used to tell me when I was six, "You're on your honor."
Mina has always been a very pure-hearted person, as well as a person of faith, someone who prayed daily, loved angels, and visited retired nuns in nursing homes. But she also suffered from something akin to ADD, before that sort of syndrome was very well understood, and was often punished for it, sometimes cruelly.
(We only realized she might be ADD years after realizing the same about us kids.)
Mina often had trouble reading people. An extremely trusting person, she was easy to set-up and fool or betray, and sometimes this happened to tragic ends. Her ADD undercut her effectiveness in achieving even more in life than she did - it certainly cost her a lot of respect.
With that in mind, I created this blog, to salute and carry on the kinds of causes she championed.
One thing I personally witnessed during my mother's recent illness has been the very sad state of elder care in this country. To me, and to my mother, this has been both tragic and a sin. To the extent I can, I intend to rectify that, in her honor.
In mid-2006, mom said to me, "Don't forget me." I won't, Mom. No one will. The best monument I can think of to honor her is the kind of progressive work that would make her proud. More details to come in ensuing posts.
Welcome to Mina's Place. Have a cup of Red Rose tea and take your shoes off. It's a friendly place, but it's also a focused place where we plan to get a few things done and share some ideas. :)
We're glad to see you. Relax, and keep coming back!
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