After Home, a final tribute

When I posted my blog item about Mary Korkie on April 12, I ended it with her son, John's, story about her visiting the bronze ground marker bearing her husband's name, which also read 'Mary 1927-'

It can now read Mary, 1927-2008, since she died peacefully April 28.

I had written about Mary in a Gazette Ramblin' column last Dec. 17. She grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Iowa to live with John. The column explained how Mary had won a $1,200 slot machine jackpot in Bettendorf, but didn't have the proper identification to claim it. John helped her acquire the necessary documents to claim her winnings, which she gave to him.

John sent me periodic updates about her mother, including the one for my earlier blog item about her trip back home to Pennsylvania. Since then, he sent a guick notice about her death and then her obituary which appeared in the May 1 Gazette.

Having met Mary, a soft-spoken and kind woman, I was touched by this passage in her obituary:

"Despite many hardships, between the woes and confusion of this much too busy world, Mary always managed to find the true benefits of simplicity. She was a loving mother, whose broad-grinned smile would mirror our inner search for love, the importance of family, and the wink of life's friendship and experience.

"Delightful," a new and very close friend has said. Mary was simply "delightful."

I can't think of any better tribute to someone we love once they are gone.