My Mother

Cleona Alvenia Heywood de Gaston

Born May 26, 1907, Thatcher, Arizona Territory


My mother was a romantic, loved classical music, and could sing beautifully, truly an unsung heroine of singing!
My mother used to sing this favorite song of hers very beautifully, "Amapola".
CLICK to download and play (8.7 MB, but beautifully sung and worth it!).

          We all make our choices as we go through life, even when very young. You can lead a horse to water, but not make it drink. But sometimes if you keep doing it, it may take a sip or more. So I made my choices in life, but the waters to which I was led, I was principally lead by my well-motivated mother who loved me. I am glad that she was "tough" enough to lead me more than once to some of the good waters. I am so glad for the the nights that she spent reading to me (and my siblings). The "Hiawatha" by Longfellow, the "Odessy" by Homer, the "medical books", the trips to the library, the concerts, and the opera...all these things and more she did that gave me a class and broadening that I knowing these things think what a poor wretch I would be, and probably not know it, should they not be in my life.

          Do I have any regrets?...Yes;...I wish that I could have been sweeter to her instead of protecting myself so much from her. So, I am who I am because of my mother...and I thank God for her, and pray for forgiveness for my shortcomings at times in regards to how I hurt her feelings because now that I am older I realize so much more how she must have felt despite how she often came across. God bless my mother where she is now, and please be merciful to her for her mistakes often made, I believe, because she wanted to pursue beautiful things and rise in nobility.

          It is perhaps a little sad that Mother missed the birth of her fourteenth grandchild, Robert Alexisovich de Gaston, my eleventh child, when Mother would have been 101 years, 2 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days old!


Mother at 7 months age, Xmas 1907.

Here is Mother as a cute baby at 7 months of age, which was Christmas time...
and I believe in Los Angeles. She reminds me of some of my granchidren...particularly Lorena's and Anne's.


Mother, Cleona A Heywood, 1915, prob 8 yr.jpg Mother, probably 8 years of age, cropped from a Heywood Family Reunion picture taken in 1915.

(Here she reminds me of Cami, and looks a lot like Erica...both when they were of similar ages to my mother.)



Mother, probably in the 1920's,
at about 20 years
of age.
 
 
 

 
 




My mother at about 19 years of age (1926). She attended the Arizona Normal School in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Normal schools used to be popular, ane were special colleges to train teachers. Now the Arizona
Normal School has metamorphasized through more than one denominator to become the
Northern Arizona State University, Flagstaff.


Cleona Heywood de Gaston, grad fr USC pic 1928 maybe 002


Neal, Gloria, Mother, Cami about Winter 43-44 RED50PCT P7120328

Mother with the first three of her "Brood" (Neal, Gloria, and Cami), probably Winter of 1943-4.


mother_cleona_1947_maybe INC300PCT

Mother elegantly dressed for an evening out, perhaps the opera...about 1947, I guess.


Mother wi Raymond in 1950 on front lawn of 3701 Shannon Rd.

   Mother with Raymond in 1950 at Easter on the front lawn of our home at 3701 Shannon Road,
Hollywood 27, California. About 43 years of age and 4 children, but still beautiful.


1975 Cleona and Aunt Mary ctsy of Bob Lewis

Here is mother in 1975 with her sister, Mary (ne Heywood) Lewis Riggs.
They appear to be at Disneyland (Pirates of the Carribean area/ship).


Mother, Cleona Heywood de Gaston, receiving certificate for political activity prob about 1980 RED60PCT P7120326

Mother receiving a certificate for her political-community service at a banquet in probably 1980. (Anybody remember what organization and the exact date?)


Uncle Yeates & my mother, Cleona, about 1988_QQ RED30PCT P7120327

Uncle Yeates Heywood with his niece, my mother, Cleona Alvenia Heywood de Gaston. I am guessing the the picture was taken in 1989...anybody know?


Death Certificate of Cleona H. de Gaston

This is a copy of my mother's official certificate of death. It is self-explanatory, and full of good information. This image was scanned at 150 dpi for this Web page (and is 1269 pixels wide), but I also scanned it at 200 (1693 pix) and 300 (2031 pix) dpi as converted to .jpg format, as the latter two were about 15 and 30 Mb respectively in .bmp format. If you want either of the higher resolution copies for printing, etc., E-mail me, and I shall respond to your request by E-mail.


Alvenia Savage, 1912 maybe
Mother's mother, my grandmother, Alvenia (ne) Savage Heywood, maybe 1912.


"Jalisco", Mexican traditional piece: