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May 16, 2010

Larry Penkava: All’s good when Mama’s back in the saddle

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Mama’s nearly 92 but she’s still mowing the yard.

What makes it even more difficult is that she has to push the mower while sitting in her wheelchair.

Mama – Sybil Penkava – worked hard all her life, from growing up on a dairy farm to raising five children to selling Avon for 45 years. Now, in her 90s and still truckin’, she’s found that mowing the yard isn’t yet out of the question.

When Daddy was still living and they were able to keep up their own place, Mama would run the push mower while he rode the Comet Snapper around their large yard. If that sounds like male chauvinism, think again.

Mama always said she wanted to push the mower because she needed the exercise. I guess Daddy thought he was doing her a favor by letting her get in her workout.

For what it’s worth, I believe she always felt a bit guilty when she wasn’t doing something constructive.

My parents grew up during the Great Depression and work, even for kids, was something you did to survive. Daddy – Big Lou for those who remember him – used to talk about rowing across the Ohio River with his best friend when he was a boy. And it wasn’t just for the fun of dodging coal barges and having to navigate the wakes of bigger boats.

The two boys would have the rowboat loaded to the gills with scrap metal, which they took to sell at a salvage yard across the river. You did whatever you could to make a little money.

When he became of age, Daddy worked in a coal mine until an accident put an end to his underground career. He finally received enough college credits to do clerical work for most of his life.

Mama had to work hard on the farm, helping milk a herd of cows by hand and all the other duties of a farm hand. When she turned 18 she went north in the footsteps of her older brother and sister. She met Daddy while working at Isley’s Ice Cream Parlor in Salem, Ohio. She’d give him double dips while the boss wasn’t looking.

After Daddy proposed – with “Blueberry Hill” playing on the Victrola – they set up housekeeping and soon had three little boys. Returning to Randolph County, they had another son before Mama finally had her girl.

I can tell you as a close observer that Mama and Daddy both kept their noses to the grindstone all those years so we kids could enjoy a better life. Of course, they tried to teach us the value of hard work as well.

Now that Mama is living with Jeanne, her only daughter, she often finds herself wanting to do something around the house to help earn her keep.

Problem is, she has knees that won’t allow her to get around without a walker and shoulders that won’t let her lift her arms to do chores such as washing the dishes.

Recently, however, Jeanne’s husband Dan figured out a way for Mama to once again mow the yard. He started the mower and pushed her up in her wheelchair to the handles.

She grabbed hold of the mower, Dan pushed her wheelchair and the result was a swath of mowed grass. Meanwhile, Jeanne was documenting the scene for posterity on their camcorder.

The highlight of Mother’s Day was when Dan played the video for our assembled family.

It was good to see Mama back in the saddle.



Larry Penkava, who has written Now and Then since 1994, wishes Mama could mow his yard.

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