REMEMBERING MY MOTHER JOSEPHINE, ON THIS HER 27TH ANNIVERSARY.........

27 Years ago today, on Thursday December 2, 1982, at 9:20 pm, in Mercy General Hospital, at 40th & 'J' Streets, in Sacramento, my mother Josephine Virginia Corey Feusi Powers, died at age 60, after her five and a half year valiant struggle with diabetes and leukemia. More than a quarter of a century gone, she lives on in my heart and memory, as she does for family, friends,and fellow believers, who knew and loved her. My mother was born at home, in South Sacramento, on July 5, 1922, The fifth child and third daughter, of nine children, born to Manuel Lawrence and Claudia Frances Corey (Correia) she was of Portuguese ancestry. Baptized August 5, 1922, at St. Elizabeth's Church, at 12th and "S" Streets, in Sacramento, the Portuguese National Parish. As a girl, young Josie, happily helped around the house, played with her sisters and brothers and pet cats, as the story is told, she always had at least one cat as a child. Close to all her siblings, she was particularly fond as a youngster, of her next youngest sister, Alice, who died at age nine, of lockjaw. With her siblings she attended Fruitridge Grammar School, from the latter 1920's through the mid 1930's, graduating from the 8th Grade. The teacher and principal of Fruitridge School in that era, was the highly regarded, Fern Bacon, for whom the Junior High / Middle School, opened less than a mile from the location of the old Frutridge School, was named when it opened, in 1957. My grandfather Corey did not believe in those years that girls should attend high school, so my mother and her sisters set about finding work after completing 8th Grade. The Sisters of Social Service in 1937, when she was fifteen, placed Josephine, in a job in the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Hamlin, Sr., in the Land Park neighborhood. My mother was hired as, "the girl who took care of their young son", John Hamlin Jr. Mr. Hamlin Sr. was then the attorney for the Sacramento Bee and his wife was very involved in the charitable and social activities in Land Park and Sacramento. My mother looked after their son for three years, until she turned 18 years old. One of the Hamlin's neighbors she became acquainted with were the heavyweight boxing champion, Max Baer and his family. Max Baer Jr. was a playmate of John Hamlin and my mother occasionally walked both children down to the corner drugstore for an ice cream cone. 1940, the year Josie left the job, was significant for two reasons besides her turning 18. It was the year of my grandparents Silver Wedding Anniversary, the party for which my mother was the organizer and Mrs. Hamlin helped her fund the cost of the party. The other occurrence was 1940 was the year Holy Spirit Parish, in Land Park was founded. That was also the year 18 year Josephine received the Sacrament of Confirmation under the direction of Social Service Sister Benedicta at St. Joseph's Parish in Clarksburg. Until her marriage to George Feusi, in September 1945, my mother worked at McCllelan Air Force Base, during World War II. My two older brothers, Harry George and Gerald Marshall Feusi, were born to their union in 1946 and 1948. Unfortunately, their marriage did not last, and my mother and two babies returned to my grandparents home on the corner of 52nd and Woodbine Avenues. My father, Troy Doil Powers had migrated to California from Arkansas and Oregon, in 1947, and was also living on 52nd Avenue. My parents met, shortly thereafter started dating and were married on July 9, 1950, when my brothers were four and two years old respectively. For the next six years they set about raising Harry and Jerry, in the house my father built in 1950, which still today is the family home, where my younger brother Thomas continues to live. In 1956, I was born being the first of four Powers children of my parents. I am pleased on this anniversary of my mother to share these reflections. Tomorrow I will complete this retrospective on her life. Eternal rest grant unto your soul Mother, and may Perpetual light shine upon you. I love you, miss you, remember you, and pray for you, today and everyday. Peace in the Everlasting Advent of the Risen Christ,
Troy