Call her blessed

She lived her long and happy life as the prototypical southern lady. Her stance and carriage were proud and gentle --- she got along with everyone, whatever their calling or station in life. She inherited her father's easy way with people; reared in the tradition of the Old South, she believed with all her heart in The Lost Cause. Second only to her Lord was her love and affection for her heroes Lee, Jackson and Stuart. She brought up her six sons in the tradition she knew and carried out with her boys. She had learned one modifying factor when it came to them. She passed on to us the fact that all of us were creatures and children of God, whatever their color or belief.

Audrey Sisler was highly intelligent and learned well everything the school system could throw at her. Later, she learned vicariously from her offspring. Education, the two-way street in our family, did also include large portions of the Holy Bible --- hers was always much more used and worn than those the rest of us used. (We'd play "I've got a character" --- in which the rest of us by adroit and probing questions would try to guess what biblical person the first one had in mind. Jack always struck out because the only character he knew was Jemima, daughter of Job --- and pancake recipes). She was a master storyteller, and we'd often keep her at it long past our bedtime with our plaintive please, "Mom, tell us another one!"

She outlived four of her sons, a grandchild and most of her contemporaries, including our father, who needed her attention during his own declining years. She adored her grandchildren, who remember her to this day and also the same stories which never wore out from generations down the years. For quality and the purest essence of a mother's love are reasons for all generations to rise up and call her blessed.

So we do offer our love and homage, looking forward to a closed circle in Heaven and an eternity of "Tell us another one, Mom."