Woodeen Rozalia Hayes came into this world on September 29th 1937 she was the first born child to Woodrow and Rozalia Hayes and would be blessed with a brother, Larry Dale, about four and half years later . Mom was born and raised in Winslow Arizona. Her childhood home was a boxcar that her dad had added a bathroom, kitchen and bedroom onto. It rested on a piece of the homestead land that her grandparents had homesteaded. About 200 yards behind her house were the train tracks that the Santa Fe railroad ran on day and night about every ½ hour. You could hear the train a coming, this would be a sound that would always remind her of home, and 200 yards in front of her house was highway 66 the main though fair running though Winslow.
When mom was born she was born without a hip joint, this would cause her a pain and problems though out her life. When she was about 3 1/2 she was accepted into the crippled children’s hospital in Phoenix. She would be in and out of the hospital and convalescent home until she was 7 years old. Many of these stays would be for anywhere from 3 to 6 months long during which she would be separated from her family. According to a letter I found, the children were only allowed visits on Sunday’s from 3 to 4 and the parents weren’t allowed to hug, kiss or touch their child and were to talk to them from the end of the bed, this being between 1941 and 1945. Gas was rationed and her family lived in Winslow and the hospital was in Phoenix. Visits were few and far between. It was a very joyful day when she was able to return home for good. Even though that meant she would walk with a limp and no hip joint just a shelf that would hold her hip in place. While in the hospital she was always said to be a very sweet girl and a joy to those who worked with her.
Mom would often tell the story of her dad who was a shoe maker during World War two, taking the scraps of leather left over from making other’s shoes and using it to make her and her mom sandals so their shoes wouldn’t wear out before they would be rationed another pair of shoes.
Mom married her high school sweetheart, Cliff Meister at the age of 19 and together they had six children, three boys and three girls. There first three children would join their family one right after the other, first Danny, then Daleen, and myself. Six years later Cindy would come along followed by Jack and 4 years after that Sam After about six years of marriage Mom and Dad were sealed for time and all eternity in the temple of the Lord in Mesa Arizona.
Although they didn’t have much in the way of material things mom would use her hands to create beautiful things she learned to sew, embroidery, knit, crochets, and do beautiful Indian bead work and many other crafts. These skills would be used to bless the lives of those around her. You could almost always find her working on one project or another most of which when she had finished she would say okay now can we go give this to ……… each piece of work that she would do you could hear her talk about the person she had chosen it for and the love that she was putting into each piece. She loved to surprise people with a piece of her work and always hoped it would touch there heart in some way; just they had touched her heart.
My mom was a wonderful cook and one of the things my mom enjoyed making was pie and I must say that she could make a pie that was truly out of this world. Her crust was so nice and flaky, so one year when mom ask what I wanted for Christmas I told her I wanted her to fill every pie pan in the house with a pie so we could eat pie all day long. She filled all 20 pie pans and we had pie for a very long time. We ate pie. We froze pie. We shared pie with the neighbor and anyone else that happened to come by. I never asked her to do that again but I did let her teach me how to bake pies like she did.
At Christmas you would find our kitchen table filled with at least fifty dozen rosette cookies but we never called them rosette we called them fried cookies, these would be given to all of her friends and those she worked with.
Mom would never let anyone leave her home hunger if you happened to drop by when dinner was being served she would have you pull up a chair and join the fun or take some on the road with you. Her door was always open and she couldn’t stand to see someone going hungry.
When I was a teenager, my mom became an EMT and she and my dad ran the town ambulance and rarely had any time off. I remember one particular Thanksgiving Day Mom had gotten up and put the Turkey in the oven as she always did when the phone rang and they had to go out on an ambulance run she had no more returned home when the phone rang and out the door they went again leaving instructions on what need to be done next this would happen about three more time before the family went ahead and enjoyed the well prepared meal without them there when Mark Walker the guy on the next shift walked in to our house to get the keys for the ambulance and began to brag about the quite wonderful dinner he had had with his family and mom who was working on the dishes and who had yet to have dinner herself picked up the dish rag and though it at him hitting him right in the face every one had a great laugh because mom couldn’t throw and hit a thing even if she wanted to.
After 37 years marriage she and dad divorced, yet she never quit loving and caring about him, and came to live with me and my family. She would live with us for 12 1/2 years during which time she spent time volunteering in the school helping children with reading. She also was very active in the church serving where ever called. She loved to attend the temple and would always say that while in the temple it was the one place her legs never hurt. Doing temple work brought her great joy for as long as she was able to do it.
As mom’s health declined and she had to us a cane and then later a walker, she would take the time to decorate her walker with the seasons; people would find joy in watching what she would come up with next. It was always the prettiest cane or walker around.
After living with us for 12 ½ years of living in my home her had reached a point that she need more care than I was able to give her and her new home became North Shore where she received wonderful care. While living at North shore she soon became a favorite, she would make her famous little crocheted Mexicans and give them to the nurses and others that would come and visit her there. Mom never wanted to be a bother or problem to anyone and worked hard to not be a burden. Each week Mark would pick her up from North Shore and wheel her up the hill to attend church something she looked forward to all week long. She was known best for her sweet and gentle nature.
Mom was greatly loved by many and touched many hearts while here on earth. Now she is free of physical pain. I’m sure she’s busy at work on the other side of the veil, working to build the kingdom there with her unique talents and abilities
