Linda Hinton remembers her mother, Anna Groome, 93, and her mother-in-law, Gloria Hinton, 92, who passed away April 9 and April 17, respectively. They are all from Belleville, NJ.
My husband, Gary, and I will miss having our mothers around for each of the holidays and our annual barbecues at our house with family and friends. They were always part of all the gatherings.
It was just more than family events. Anna and Gloria also enjoyed going to Saturday evening Mass with us, and looked forward to going to our favorite Italian restaurant — La Sicilia in Belleville — afterward for dinner. My mother and I would get shrimp marinara (she liked hers with angel hair pasta), and Gloria would order ravioli.
We also went to garage sales together on Saturdays, where Gloria loved buying costume jewelry. They also loved it when we went to 7-Eleven for lunch to get a hot dog or a pizza slice, and cappuccino from the machine. Just getting out of the house and going for a ride in the car, and enjoying the passing scenery, was a joy to them. The little things in life made them happy.
My mother moved in with us after my father fell ill in late 2006. He passed away several months later in 2007 — it was hard losing him, but at least Mom lived with us. She made it her mission to be helpful. Every night, we’d come home from work to a beautiful home-cooked meal. Lately, it was becoming too much for her to handle alone, so I took over the cooking — but she still liked to help.
I’ll miss her company and our conversations at the kitchen table. I’ll also miss her telling me, ‘I love you, Linda,’ and the sweet things she always said to me — telling me how pretty I looked, or how nice my blouse was. She was a kind, loving and gentle soul who always had something nice to say. Like the saying goes, there is no love like a mother’s love.
Gloria also lived with us for a year at a time on a couple of occasions. She was great at ironing and folding clothes, and would offer help in any way she could. Gloria made friends easily and had a lot of them. She had a heart of gold and would give you the shirt off her back. She was fun-loving — loved to dance, going to the racetrack and taking trips to Atlantic City.
She had struggled, raising six children on her own, but always managed, putting her children first. She worked at catering venues for weddings to help support her family. Gloria taught Gary the value of hard work. I think that made him a better father and husband. He was an auto mechanic, but he went to college — and it took him 18 years of going to school and working a job, but he got his master’s degree in electrical engineering and business management.
Anna had three children, nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Gloria had six children, 11 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Three of Gloria’s grandchildren each have a set of twins.
God blessed us with two wonderful mothers who we love and miss so much.
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