Artful Vision thanks everyone who entered the “Thanks Mom” tribute contest. There were four winners – the grand prize goes to Debra Cox; the three honorable mentions go to Juliana Palmcook, Evelyn Markasky, and Linda Landowski. Their entries are listed below.
Grand Prize Winner
Debra Cox
I found out just how special my mother was early on in my life. She had five children in the 1950’s when times were tough.
My dad held a job in the steel mill and my mom worked full time in the grocery store. In 1973 my next to the youngest brother had a diving accident that left him a quadriplegic. My mother quit her job and has been by his side since then. She has cared for him in only a way a mother could with so much love and compassion.
My brother has spent the past 38 years in a wheelchair with my mother by his side giving him the care he needs to remain as independent as he can in a loving home environment. She has been a role model to say the least in giving unselfishly of herself. She said she doesn’t even think about what she does.
This Mother’s Day I would like to thank her and tell her how much she is loved for all the sacrifices she has made in her life to her children and all the people who know her.
Honorable Mentions
Juliana Palmcook
Dear Rosemary,
Before I met your son I came from a cold, cruel place. I struggled and felt alone. When I met your son, he listened to me and made me feel loved by hugging me. He taught me to sew, encouraged me with my cooking skills and supported me through the toughest of times.
I owe my gratitude to you because you taught my husband to be real man in this world. I know we live far, but every time we traveled you had a great warm home-cooked meal ready for us and you even gave up your own bed in so we could rest peacefully. Thank you for all of your hospitality. Thank you for always making my favorite spaghetti sauce with grape jelly. Thank you for calling us every week to see if we are okay.
I wanted to tell you I love you looking at the walls and halls in your home filled with photographs of all your children and grandchildren. I hope one day all of us can be reunited with you at once. This is my Mother’s Day wish for you. I wanted to say I love you, not just because you gave birth to my husband but because I know how hard you try and what you have sacrificed. You are appreciated.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Evelyn Markasky
This pendant was made as a tribute to my mother. I remember when I was around 7 or 8 years old she would get all dressed up to go downtown. She would take the bus and when she came back she would usually bring me some kind of treat, like Nik-L-Nips (the juice in a wax bottle) or little candy ice cream cones.
She probably did every craft imaginable from knitting, crocheting, flower arranging, decorating, to sewing all of my clothes. She is an inspiration to me because not only did she do all of these things, but she did them all very well. She also passed down to me all of her wonderful Greek recipes for baklava, moussaka, spanakopita, etc!!
These are just a few things that made her a fun, passionate, loving & caring mother to me and my brother and sister. When she was dying we found that she hadn’t lost her sense of humor and sarcastic wit. She even yelled at us for having BBQ Wings and not offering her any. That didn’t happen again. She had pizza and beer the next night!
We had great conversations where she said the most perfect things in letting us know how she felt about us and how we felt about her. Sometimes you don’t really appreciate all of these things until that life is complete and I’m very glad I got to be with my mother all my life (even when I didn’t realize how good it was) and especially at the end when I fully did.
Linda Landowski
We located my Mother when I was 19 and pregnant. She was Dying from breast Cancer! She never shared if I had a dad or family. I didn’t share she’d be a grandmother. We had one short emotional visit and she died at age 46.
Skip to me being 49. Now I’m facing Triple Negative Breast Cancer! I fought very hard. Which is a understatement. My husband lost his job, and I wanted to see my children grow up! I want to meet and be there for my grand children! So here are my husband and I existing on Zero income! Living on Love & a prayer. But I’m honoring my mother by achieving what she couldn’t! I may have been a motherless mother. But I think I have an angel on my shoulder helping me fight!
Thank you Mom! I wish I had the chance to know you! Maybe one day when I pass on.. Until then please help me!
Grand Prize winner will receive:
$100 Artful Vision Gift Certificate
11×14 matted photo by Maxine Gardner
16 photographic note cards by Maxine Gardner
Honorable Mention winners will receive:
$25 Artful Vision Gift Certificate
8×10 matted photograph by Maxine Gardner
8 photographic note cards by Maxine Gardner
As an added bonus Artful Vision gave the Grand Prize winner an opportunity to choose one of Artful Vision’s non-profit partners to receive an additional $150 donation. The Grand Prize winner, Debra Cox chose Project Kitty Connect where they humanely and effectively reduce stray and feral (wild) cat overpopulation through the non-lethal method of Trap-Neuteur-Return (TNR).
In Debra’s own words “I would like the 150.00 donation to go to your non-profit partner, Project Kitty Connect. I have adopted two special kitties that have held a special place in my families heart for a number of years. They have brought us so much joy to us I can’t imagine our house without them. I know how important the spay and neuter program is to all animals so I hope this will help. Again, thank you for putting this special Mother’s Day contest on through Artful Vision. It’s a great place.“
Project Kitty Connect founder, Rebecca Godo was thrilled to receive the news of the added donation. To support Project Kitty Connect or Artful Vision’s other non-profit fundraising partners with your purchase of American made gifts, visit www.artfulvision.com.
