anita

One of the things I looked forward to most when we moved to the Houston area was getting to know better the mother of my husband, Anita. In the short time we had to get to know each other, she became very special to me. This page is dedicated to Anita's memory, and the many lives she touched. To her friends and family, please feel free to send me anything you would like to see here and don't forget to sign Anita's guest-book.

Anita always made sure she had a couple of bags of my favorite cookies (oatmeal-apricot) in Shirley's freezer. She even gave me the recipe once, but hers were the best.

My fondest memory of Anita is when we helped Sharon plant her flowers in her yard. We told stories and I learned a lot about the family. We just enjoyed each other's company all day. Anita treated me like a granddaughter. I am married to her grandson Robert Dorman. She always made sure she told me she loved me and she always showed it too. She didn't have to do these things but she did anyway and for that I will always be grateful. I lost my grandmother when I was 16 and always felt a loss in my life. Anita filled that void and gave me the chance to love her as my own grandmother. I may not have been her biological granddaughter but she made me feel like I was. I will miss her dearly and I hope she catches up with my grandmother in Heaven and they can fill each other in on the years of my life they both missed out on. Anita and my grandmother both instilled the love of gardening in me. So I know they will get along perfectly and keep each other and all our other loved one's company until one day we are all together again and I know God's garden's will never be more beautiful than after Anita's graceful green thumb.

Love and memories for Mom is in the flower bed we have made in her honor in our front yard. To her we dedicated the beauty that she loved for nature. I will not weed it, for without Mom here to tell me what is and is not a weed, I fear for my life as to not be hit by the lightening that Mom will throw at me should I pluck a flower instead of the weed.

My fondest memory of Anita is when Dad (Bill Plummer) and Anita got married. Sharon & I were at the pool and then we were told of them getting married. Sharon & I were so happy. We then went to their reception in their honor. I loved Anita so much. She treated me like her daughter even though I was only her step daughter. No one could tell that she was not my real mother as she treated us all the same. She loved dad so much and all of us Plummer kids.

As she was passing on to God, each time I visited her in the hospital all she ever asked was about my brother's grandchild Raegen and how she was doing. That is the unselfishness of Anita. Even though her pain was so great she never thought of herself only of others.

One day right after Anita and Dad got married, in an effort to keep things as normal as possible, Mom, Anita and I went Christmas shopping in Montrose. We left Daddy at home to fend for himself and off we went.... It was a truly fun day, as the stress of the weirdness of the situation finally wore off. I'm not sure either of the sisters were as stressed as I was at the beginning of the day, but I know Dad was. This was evident as we returned to Dad and Anita's house to drop off your Mom and her purchases and found Dad in an embarrassing situation. It seems that in an effort to help out while we were gone, Dad had decided to do up the dishes. In his zest to get it done he managed to drop and break one of your Mammas favorite platters. Not wanting to have her upset over the loss, he decided to super glue the pieces back together but, once again, in his zeal to do a good deed, he managed to get in over his head. Imagine the sore side muscles as all three of us suppressed giggles that threatened to erupt over the picture Dad made sitting at that table with his hands solidly joined to the bottom of that rumpled platter!! In my memory (which has, undoubtedly, become highly glossed with the passing of time) my Mom became highly interested in the contours of the ceiling and began making little comments about the true craftsmanship of the moldings that had so fully captured her attention. I will have to admit at this point to being the only one of the three unable to withhold a highly unladylike snort... and maybe one or two excellent one-liners somewhere along the lines of those Pollock jokes my Dad was so fond of. I have somewhat grown up since that time but still laugh out loud, in a room by myself, while I recall this moment for you. But your Mamma, Jimmy, in a grace learned only with decades of dealing with a multitude of such moments, got hold of Daddy by the eyes (and I don't know how she did this because you have NEVER seen such "deer in the headlights" eyes in you life !!) and with a totally straight face says, "Thank you... Johnny,"
I waited in a silence that was pregnant with the expectancy of a cutting one-liner, ( which was only a choice of which humiliating turn to take), and your mom delivered a one line punch I've held onto ever since... " It's so nice to come home to a clean kitchen! Man, I couldn't believe she had so totally blown the best 'gotcha now' moment in history...but then I noticed Dads' eyes. The thanks and respect I saw there were enough to slow down even my dimwitted wittiness. By walking into that room and completely not seeing the purple elephant sitting in the middle of the room and instead seeing the little garden beyond it that dad was in the process of planting for her, she taught me that love involves a second sight. I saw that 'turning a blind eye' on your loved ones flaws was, in reality, a more keen sight. One that allows to see beyond the elephant to delight in the pansies. A good memory that passes on wisdom is a gift indeed and this is, of course, only one of the many gifts that your Mamma gave to me and mine. Thank you, Jimmy and Crew, for sharing your Mom with us.

Lola Plummer Cole

I remember me and her sitting together late at night when Dad would already have gone to bed and listening to Tennessee Ernie Ford's gospel songs. she had an album of his and played it every night. It was so soul searching. We came together with God there in the living room at the house on Lawndale. I remember the day of my oldest son Eddie when he was a year old. Anita had made a chocolate cake and him sitting in high chair with chocolate over his face and his bowl of ice-cream on top of his head. Anita thought he looked so cute and had to use her camera and take a picture of him. She loved my son dearly and also my daughter. Every time we would visit she would always give them a dollar and my kids thought she was the greatest...now Anita is in heaven with Dad. she loved Dad so much...never stopped loving him even after he went to be with the Lord ...now she is with him again in heaven. I know they are happy again....from Lola

My fondest memory of Grandma was when I was about 7 or 8 and we stayed with her for the summer. Nick and I got so sick eating the figs in the backyard one day, that evening she let me crawl in her lap to rock me to sleep. I remember her telling Uncle Joey to "get the camera and take a picture while she's asleep". I was pretending to be asleep while they took the picture and I remember thinking that if I was real still she would keep rocking me. I remember her making me feel so safe during a very bad time in our lives. I guess she eventually rocked me to sleep because the next thing I remember was waking up in bed. So thank you Grandma for helping 3 scared children get through one difficult summer. Love from your oldest granddaughter, Crystal Dawn

My fondest memory of my Aunt Anita was when I was in Texas. My mom was not there with me and I was in need of some cooking instruction. I didn't know how to make 'stuffing' for a turkey. Anita graciously taught me how, step- by- step.

During our "cooking session", and on many other occasions, she would gently place her hand on my back or shoulder and give me a 'loving rub' simply letting me know how much she cared. The touch of her hand and her warm laugh were always words of love unspoken.

These windows were dedicated on Nov. 4th, 2001
and placed in the Pasadena Brethren Church (Pasadena, Texas)

Many thanks to the members of the church and also to
John's employer, Jim Jamail of Jamail construction
for providing this wonderful tribute for Anita