Florence Margaret Judson was born on Easter Sunday, April 7, 1912, in Denver, Colorado. Six days later the Titanic sunk on her maiden voyage. Mom had two brothers, Bud and Bob; and two surviving sisters, Ethel and Helen. Mom's first recorded memories start when her parents moved the family from the city to the country to get fresh air. The farmhouse they lived in had no plumbing or electricity, and only one bedroom. They had all the routine farm animals, including three cows, which were named after Grandpa's three sisters-in-law.

Mom and Bud attended a one-room school in Sable Junction, which they walked to summer and winter. From an early age, Mom milked cows, road horses, gathered eggs, pitched hay, dodged snakes, and braved blizzards and tornadoes. She survived whooping cough, measles, kidney disease, and the great Flu Epidemic of 1918. When Grandpa decided to move the family to California, Mom had to give up her beloved pony, Beauty. They eventually settled in Long Beach, where they lived in a number of rented houses. All totaled, she lived in 21 houses (9 in Colorado and 11 in California) before she married my Dad.

Mom grew up and attended Jefferson Junior High and Wilson High School. She belonged to the Campfire Girls in junior high school and high school and became an avid hiker. She and her girlfriends formed a hiking club. Their most infamous hike was up Mt. Wilson, where they got lost and had to hike down in the dark by flashlight.

Our country was in the midst of the Great Depression, so Mom quit school before graduating and went to work for her dad as his bookkeeper. She worked full-time for $15.00 a week. In 1933, a major earthquake hit southern California centering in Long Beach. The family stayed in a tent city for three days before they could return to their home. Grandpa's office building was so damaged they couldn't enter through the front. No matter, they just went to work via the fire escape!

Mom was hired by Proctor and Gamble in 1935, where she worked until 1946 in the Cost Accounting department. This is where she would eventually meet her future husband, Emil. Until that time, she was one of a handful of women working with hundreds of men. She liked the odds! Mom loved to go dancing into the wee hours with her friends at the many ballrooms in the area. Whenever she got the chance, she and her girlfriends headed over to Catalina Island for fun in the sun.

On March 10, 1946, Florence Judson married Emil Schoening. As this was not long after the end of World War II, it was still hard to buy certain things. So in a borrowed wedding gown, attended by bridesmaids in mis-matched dresses, she promised to love and honor my dad for life. That promise would last over 58 years. My brother, Steve, was born August 1, 1947, and I followed on December 1, 1950.

In 1957, Mom and Dad decided to move from our very cozy two-bedroom house in Long Beach to a sleepy little town filled with orange groves and a little place called Disneyland. Mom and Dad joined Zion Lutheran Church that year and enrolled Steve and myself in the school. Mom helped out at school providing hot lunches and drove on field trips. At church she was a secretary in the Sunday School office, active in Women's League and, in her later years, faithfully worked with the Braille volunteers.

Mom was not a gourmet cook, but she made the best meals. She wasn't a nurse, but could take care of us with such gentleness whenever we were sick. Mom loved to read and usually had a half dozen books checked out from the library. She gleaned a lot of knowledge from the books and articles she read, which sometimes made her a bit overprotective with us.

Most important of all, Mom had a personal relationship with Jesus, her Savior. She didn't talk a lot about her faith, but when she did, I knew how precious and genuine that faith was. I spoke with her as she recovered from a surgery many years ago. She said she had an experience that had brought her so close to (God that she knew without a doubt that she would be in Heaven someday.

And I know without a doubt that she is there today. Mom couldn't comprehend anyone not wanting to spend eternity with Jesus. She would want everyone here today to know that God loves you and if you seek Him and ask His forgiveness, you, too, will be celebrating in Heaven someday.

                                                  --Chris