I am Wini's eldest Nikki. I remember living in Nebraska with my 2 sisters, Tracey and Kellie, back in 1969 to 1971. My Dad was in the Air Force and my Mom Wini, was a homemaker. I watched the moon landing on a black and white TV in kindergarten in 1969 if that helps tell you how long ago that was. We had a coal burning furnace in the basement which you could only access from outside. In the winter, the snow would come up half past our front door, or higher, so no one could get to the basement. Blizzards were common. My mom had a few electric space heaters, and one time I caught a towel on fire in the bathroom trying to dry it off.  My mom heard me screaming and put the fire out by throwing the towel in the tub. We lived in a 2 story old Victorian that was split into 2 units.  Mom used to make Japanese food for us all the time because she had lived in Japan and had a Japanese step mother, Aki. We were eating ramen noodles and even more exotic Japanese dishes in Nebraska in 1969. I think my Mom influenced me to be interested in cooking back then. I am a Chef now.

My mom let me help her plant a vegetable garden. She always planted gardens or tended plants for the rest of her life. Murray was a very small town in the Midwest in the United States. I loved digging in the dirt with her. She always planted morning glory flowers and marigolds back then. Now I am a plant person and grow gardens and house plants. Our house was 150 years old back in 1969. I used to see ghosts back then in the house. She told me it was my imagination. It was a two story house. I used to see soldiers on horseback, and they were following each other through the walls. I used to go and sneak out of my room and sleep under my mom's bed to hide from them. My Mom admitted to me years later that she heard footsteps going up and down the stairs, but there was no one there. I always wished she told me she believed me and told me she heard them too., instead of saying it was my imagination.

We had a storm cellar in case of tornadoes, and one time we had to run down there. The tornado siren on the water tower went off, it was already night time. It sounded like a freight train above us in the cellar. I will never forget the sound. Us kids were more excited than scared, it was an adventure, The storm door was shaking, but my Mom had latched it shut, our parents kept us safe. We had blankets and flashlights. I was 6 or 7 years old. The next day, there were lots of trees knocked down, and our neighbors converted school bus was on top of their smashed barn. Our house and yard was fine. I was a little kid and my Mom was a super hero.

My Dad got transferred to Beale Air Force Base in Northern California when I was about to go into 2nd grade. I was upset to change schools and leave my friends behind. Our whole family and our cat drove to California in 1971 in the summer in a green Chevy Chevelle. Officially the 1972 model if I remember correctly.  My dad never wanted to stop so we could use a bathroom and stretch so we had a toddler potty in the back seat. Our cat was on tranquilizers but would poop on herself and throw up the whole way. It was miserable. I remember Mom giving us "space food sticks" and "tang drink powder" mixed with water. Can't remember anything else we ate, but I am sure it was more than that. It took us 3 days to get to California with hardly any stopping. We slept in the car. My Mom disliked that he insisted on driving for 3 straight days. We ended up finding a house in Wheatland, California and lived right by the train tracks by Big Al's Market. 

My parents divorced when I was 10. My Mom remarried and had my sister Katie when I was 15. My brother William was born when I was 18, also the year I graduated from Wheatland High School in 1983. 

What I remember about my Mom after she divorced her 2nd husband is that she always bounced back and figured things out. I think I got that from her as I have been able to bounce back from many hard things, including my son Christopher passing from a fentanyl overdose in 2023. I still mourn him, but I figured out how to do all his arrangements and raise money for a funeral etc. My brother Will and I are co-managers of our mom's memorial site. I am trying to be a support right now using my experience. My son Christopher's heavenly birthday was on July 8, 2025. He would have been 37. A few days before that date I told a few family members I predicted she would pass on that date, July 8th, and SHE DID! She waited until the afternoon until after my brother William, my son Nicholaus and his Dad had left from visiting her.  I had visited her the day before with my daughter Mary. Will held the phone to her ear on July 8th so her brother could talk to her. 

I am comforted that she left on my deceased son's birthday. He probably escorted her home. She isn't in pain anymore and she had 3 sisters who passed before her, and her stepmother Aki to greet her. She told me at my last visit, "I am leaving soon." I said, "you are?" She said, very sure of herself, "YES!" I believed her.  She told me, "the nurses are taking me." That was on July 7th. I think they may have been nurses that came to her from the other side. She previously saw her ex son-in-law Aburn Morris who passed November 26, 2024 sitting at the end of her bed. He didn't say anything, just sat there, she said. She also saw a Japanese girl in her room who she said was her English student when she taught in Japan. No one else saw her. She kept asking who she was.

End of life here on Earth is not the end, most of us just can't perceive it while we are living. I know she is happy where she is, hanging out with friends and family who preceded her, including my son Christopher. I am happy they are together. I know she can see us now and is with us. Thank you for reading this and please add your own memories, we really want to hear them.