Im back in Oakland and feeling pretty dull and superficial compared to the life my mom just finished living. Im not complaining. Im fine and dont regret a thing...just sayin. For those who missed the joyous, magical Celebration of Life, I hope you will enjoy reading the eulogy and link to the neato-skideedo slideshow: https://facebook/millicent.m.chaney/media_set?set=a.10203324377215460.1391451976&type=3 Eulogy to Sharyn Anne Lamb Morris Bassin (Whipped together by Millicent, Sharyn’s youngest, morning of 12/6/14) I’ve been sharing my mom’s amazing life story most of my own life so it is a great honor for me today to honor her and share a bit about her life from my perspective. I’ve been saying for years that I’m going to write a book about her and title it “Life with a Gaudy Mom” but don’t worry, I’m not going share that rough draft today and… if I had to use only one word I would have to say “Intense”. Then if I could add more words I’d add might be fun, crazy, enigmatic, late…but all of these words would have to have the modifier “intensely”. Sharyn Anne Lamb was born in Lincoln, Nebraska January 1, 1945 to Ruth and Bill Lamb. The young Lamb family, with Bill Jr., Jane, Sharyn and Carol, and moved to Orange County in 1945. There are a million Bill Lamb and Ruth Rueger stories as they were quite the characters in their own rights. Her parents divorced in the early 50’s and her mother re-married “Mr. Rueger”. Aunt Jane always says “It must have been love to take on four screaming kids”. We grew up with two grampas, our “Grandpa Lamb” and “Mr. Rueger”. Mom was a faithful daughter to both and throughout our young lives she acted as caregiver many times to our Great Grandma Lamb in her aged years as well as her dad when he needed help. In fact, it was a common occurrence in our house growing up that we had people who needed a place to stay sleeping on our couch, or Chuck would be sleeping on the couch so they could have his room. Thank you Chuck! And thank you, mom, for always having an open heart and open door for people who needed both. My dad and she were neighborhood kids who figured out where babies came from at tender age of 14 and 17. They had all of us kids by the time my mom was 18 and my dad 21. Our household was nutty and eccentric, to say the least. There were parties and fights. Lots of laughter and discipline. All just people doing their best to figure out this crazy thing called life. I’ll let Chuck and Jane tell you more stories about that off-mic, but our mom was always proud that we were always fed, bathed, clothed and had a roof over heads. She cherished those times when she would load us all into a little red wagon and walk us the few miles to the beach. I still have quite big freckles on my shoulders from the rad sunburn I got before the sunscreen era. We all tanned a lot! Before she had a butterfly tattoo she used masking tape to create a butterfly tan pattern on her calf. She was always thinking about how clever she could be about all kinds of things. She liked to be clever. Things were rarely easy or without drama in our house and I think it is fair to say we did not have a typical mom growing up. When I was 8 years old, in 3rd grade, she worked as a cocktail waitress at the Hungry Tiger, Newport Beach so she worked often until 2am but had 3 kids in grade school. She would bring me my sack lunch to the classroom dressed in short, revealing waitress outfit. Needless to say, the other kids noticed how we had a different mom, and that was cool. What people probably didn’t see was that at night we would stay at our dear friends the Lynches, who had two daughters of their own. Our mom would get off work at 2am and pick us up while in our sleepies so we would wake up in our own beds. I cherish that feeling of being swung over her shoulder like a sack of potatos knowing I would be tucked in again soon. She worked so hard at both being Sharyn and being our mom. Thank you mom! She loved being a server all throughout the 70’s and 80’s, most notoriously as Miss Hungry Tiger of 1972. She also developed a drinking habit during those years which also made our household a bit more nutty and intense. She was rightfully proud of achieving sobriety in the early eighties and embraced the AA community with gusto. She started making cakes for various members of the Alano Club for their AA birthdays, she took lots of pictures of the cakes, and she was proud of her 30 year chip. Thank you, mom, for being sober AND crazy, like your bumper sticker said. Finally, her knees and back started to bother her and in the ‘90s, she retired from the restaurant business. She became a Dial-A-Ride bus driver for Laguna Hill’s Leisure World residents in the early 90’s . She thoroughly enjoyed getting her riders to and from their appointments, providing great service, with a smile and a song for no extra charge, and making many fans and friends along the ride. After working nights for so many years she had to adjust to a 5am start time, which wasn’t easy for a notorious sleeper-inner, but she adjusted and there are many notes of gratitude from her riders. I remember her sharing with me she actually got in trouble, she got written up, for being too helpful, because she would not only take the passengers to their grocery trips, but carry the grocery bags in. This was not allowed because the riders came to expect such good service from all drivers. Pashaw, my mom would say. In 1996, she told “her ladies” on the bus that she needed “a really nice ‘Mensch’ (a special person)” and they added her to their Sabbath prayers. Not long after, Everett placed a message in the Register’s Sunday Connection feature promoting his services as “a really nice Mensch”. Everett and Sharyn had their first date at the Jolly Roger, Dana Point, where mom brought along a shopping bag of family photos to share her life from the get-go. Who does that? Everett and Sharyn were married July 15, 1998. Sharyn then became a world traveler with Everett, honeymooning in London, Wales, Scotland and Paris. Many people here today know mom from her flashy presence in the Bonsai community and I know she thoroughly enjoyed being a part of that community. Thank you for embracing our wild and crazy mom. Sharyn was a butterfly person who won several 1st places at the Orange County Fair for her collection of butterfly jewelry and over 650 butterfly theme mugs. Her car license plate was MDMBFLY, she had tattoos on her shoulder and leg of butterflies, and countless colorful clothes, shoes, purses, fans, all with butterflies. We brought a ton of this butterfly collection here and we encourage, no, implore you to take some butterfly memorabilia home with you today. She wanted it to go back to the Goodwill where it came from so please take it home with you instead and remember her as Madame Butterfly. Over the last several years Sharyn endured a series of health setbacks that required multiple stays in hospital and rehabilitation services. We are eternally grateful to the caregivers at Anaheim West Hospital, UCI Medical Geriatric Center, Kindred Hospital, Walnut Manor Rehabilitation Center, Park Anaheim, Alamitos West, and Flagship Healthcare Centers, a wonderfully devoted staff of home health caregivers, especially Patrice, Queenie, Lena, Grace, and Sinae, and Companion Hospice services. During the last several years she suffered a blood parasite, back surgery, bouts of sepsis, a stroke and finally heart and renal failure from lack of mobility. My sister Jane said our mom never got to be an old women. Well, I really believe she never imagined herself as an old woman. After having been a caregiver to her children, her own grandmother, her father, her husbands, countless friends in need throughout the years, she never could truly accept being in a position of needing care herself. She was a person who took great price in serving others. That role gave her purpose and pride and she was frankly, pretty pissed about being a person with disabilities, even though she would be the first one to extend empathy and help to someone in need. I’ll leave you with this story… during the last week her two grandkids from Florida, Miranda and Ricky, and I have been going through her stuff…lots and lots of stuff…and she had lots and lots of purses. She liked to have a matching purse to her hat and shoes. Pretty much each purse has a little care package in it, with a handy wipe, a spork, some pain relievers and bandaids, and some tissues. She always wanted to be ready to help someone. The spork is for the homeless people who might need some food but wouldn’t necessarily have a utensil to eat it with. She was ready. She also dreamed of going on Lets Make a Deal and being able to win the prize for having the most random stuff in her purse. She didn’t make it to Lets Make a Deal but she wins the prize for me of having the most random stuff in her purses. I’m sure there are a lot more stories I could share but I think I’m good for now. Thanks mom. Exit stage left.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 09:39:35 +0000
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