Eleanor to my mother's generation

By Faith Chatham Sept. 25, 2018

Watching the Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts brings back to mind memories of comments and conversations by and with my Mother. I think there was probably no woman in public life who exceeded Mrs. Roosevelt in my mother's admiration and appreciation. Mrs. Roosevelt used to write regular columns and Mother always took them the day they arrived and read them before she fell asleep. Mother described her "as beautiful and gracious in every way that truly matters."

The role model of Mrs Roosevelt showed women of my mother's generation that they need not merely sit silently, that mothers could have lives beyond their hearth and family. that being constructive in endeavoring to make the world better was not neglecting their children but truly a means of nurturing a family.

Mother enjoyed what Mrs. Roosevelt said and did. Growing up on the farm in East Texas, my mother was impressed with the clothes Mrs. Roosevelt wore. That surprised me. By the time I was aware of Mrs. Roosevelt, she was elderly. My mother grew up seeing her as a young woman, a young wife, an Eastern urban woman of the world. The Ken Burns documentary brings this family to life and shows us the "steel" of a tender woman who fought for what was compassionate, what was decent, what was fair, what was necessary, no matter how unpopular or difficult.

I think that my Mother passed along to me some of the values she shared with her heroine Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. I was never allowed to think that anything which was worth while would be easy or necessarily pleasant or popular to accomplish. It was instilled in me to listen to the heart within me, and go for what I knew to be "right", without regard for the opinions or nay saying of siblings or others.

This documentary reminds me that women shape the path of other women, often without our every encountering each other in person. What one generation receives, is passed on to subsequent generations. The struggle and triumph of others fuels generations who may newer know the names of those who mentored and inspired those who nurtured and shaped us.