Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Sunday, May 11, 2008

'She was a barrell of fun; she's still fun'

By GERI PARLIN / La Crosse Tribune

Mom. This is her day. You take her out for brunch, give her flowers, tell her you love her. For many of us, she’s the most important woman in our lives and many of our readers wrote in to tell us why.

Ellen Litchfield is one lucky lady.

As a kid, she played in teepees, had wild tire swing rides, played board games, worked puzzles, played jacks and heard stories of the old West.

All of this, Litchfield says, is thanks to her mom, Darlene Davis.

Ellen, who lives in Arcadia, Wis., and her mom, Darlene, who lives in Gilmanton, Wis., are still close. And that’s thanks to the important lessons Darlene taught her daughter.

“I am the third-oldest of five boys and five girls,” Ellen said. “We lived out in the country, and then when I was about 13 we moved to town.”

It was Darlene who built the teepee, read from paperback Westerns, challenged her children to jacks and even joined in family softball games.

Darlene is still that same wonderful, energetic person today, Ellen said.

At 80, Darlene still drives even though she had a kidney removed at age 79.

“She loves going out for lunch with her friends, and she’ll go to church on Sundays. She’ll go wherever she wants,” Ellen said. “She’s pretty active. She likes to go down for her senior citizen meals. She’ll go to Mondovi shopping. She’s usually never home.”

Ellen said writing the essay gave her a chance to think about the importance of sharing time with family and to reminisce about the wonderful childhood her mother made possible.

“She was a barrel of fun. She’s still fun.”

'Time well spent'

By Ellen Litchfield

I grew up with nine brothers and sisters and from the time I was a little girl I can remember my mother spending time with us. She would read to us as we sat around her on the sofa. (Even if it was a chapter from a paperback Western book.) As we grew older, on rainy days she would get out puzzles or a board game. Sometimes she would challenge us to a game of “jacks.” On summer days you would find us outdoors playing in a teepee that mother made for us; or on a tire swing taking turns spinning each other around and around. At family gatherings, the kids would get together and start a softball game. The grownups would join in and my mother would slam a softball to the outfield as good as any pro ball player.

My mother is 80 years old now and still enjoys taking time out to play cribbage or other card games. Incorporating time into my own family has taught us all about love, respect, patience and honesty. Thank you, Mother, for teaching me the importance of time.

— Ellen Litchfield, Arcadia, Wis.