Frances Emily McLaughlin

One of my memories of time with Aunt Frances was when we watched Sputnik fly through the night sky. And the time we camped in Wisconsin where all the children had red sailer caps. During that trip we discovered when kids are hungry enough they will eat burnt dutchoven stew leaving not a single morsel of charcoal peas. I truly appreciate the lessons about life that I learned from my Aunt Frances. I so admired Aunt Frances for kicking the door open for future women to have a more even playing field in their careers. She was of the generation that stood up for 'fair pay' when doing the same job her male counterparts were doing. Because of women like her, my generation being the next through the door were able to push it open, and today's women are walking through it with better opportunities. Jane Moorman

Shared a photo.

Duane McLaughlin - these are some mom memories that I will be sharing at her Life Celebration this afternoon. Our mother was born on the plains of Kansas in nineteen hundred and twenty five. She grew up there with her family, she was educated there, and was proud to be from Kansas. Sometimes, I think that she never left there. I didn’t come along until after she, dad, his mom and the first four children of the family moved to Wisconsin in nineteen hundred and sixty. I am sending some things along with mom as she leaves here on her journey. I am going to tell you about them and tell you some mom stories along the way. The first thing that I am sending along with mom is a name tag from the University Book Store. When the family moved to Wisconsin, times were tough, and mom had to work. She found temporary employment with Manpower and one of the places that they sent her to work was the University Co-Op - that became the Book Store in 1967. She worked as a Front End cashier during the back to school Book Rush in the fall of 1960. She told me the story how after a few day of cashiering, John Shaw – the president of the Co-Op – came to see her. He told her that if she had walked in off of the street, he might not have hired her but having her work book rush he would like to do so. She told him “thanks but no thanks” because she thought that she might be pregnant – she was, guess who - and that she had had a recent history of difficult pregnancies. She told him that if she was pregnant, that after the baby was born, she would like to come back . . . she was and she did. She continued to work for the Book Store until she retired in 1987 as the Buyer/Supervisor for the Art Supplies Department. The second thing that I am sending along with her is a model of the 1903 Wright Flyer. Not that she had much interest in Aviation – I am the plane nut in the family – but it represents a special time in her life. While dad was in the Air Force after the Korean War, she ran a restaurant at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio – the birthplace of the two brothers for whom half of the base is named. When we would go out to eat, she would inevitably tell our wait staff that she had run a commissary herself at Wright Patt, and that she was responsible for 2500 meals a day, and that when she ran that commissary, it was the first time that it ever ran in the black. She was proud of that - and rightfully so. The third thing that I am sending along with her is a copy of the movie The Sound of Music. She loved that movie. Whenever it was on the tube, it was must-see-TV for her. I can remember watching the movie with her at a revival showing at the East Towne Mall Cinema in the days before home video. I remember her singing along with every blessed song in that movie. You will notice that this edition is on VHS tape, my sister Beth passed this copy on to me. After Beth gave me the tape, I asked her if I should also be looking for a VHS machine to send along with mom so that she would be able to play the tape where she’s going. Beth assured me, that where mom is going, there are sure to be VHS players. Maybe even some Betamax machines as well. The last thing that I am sending along is a tin of cinnamon. So, look at me – it doesn’t look like I missed very many meals does it? Our mom was a great cook. While she could do miracles with hamburger, in my opinion her specialty was breakfast. I can remember many a Sunday morning that she made breakfast for the family. There was the can of orange juice that she whipped up in the blender with ice literally fabricating frozen orange slurry. There was what David and Abby called “Everything Eggs”: potatoes, ham, cheese, onions, green peppers, Tabasco sauce, and, oh yes, eggs – all scrambled together. And finally there were the homemade cinnamon biscuits: those little tan baked spirals of awesomeness, warm from the oven with their caramelized sugar and cinnamon. I would slather them with butter and jelly and eat them with delight. Seldom were there any left over at the end of the meal. I send along this tin of cinnamon because if I get to where mom is going, when I get there, I hope that there will be some of those same cinnamon biscuits waiting for me. Thank you mom. Good bye mom.

My sympathy to the family. I played bridge with Fran at the Monona Senior Center. Margaret Asturias

The McLaughlin family will be in my prayers.