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Join MemoriesJennifer Brongil This is Lorane and Henry Croman, Darlene's parents. They were married in May of 1924.
Jennifer Brongil These were Darlene's first pair of baby shoes. Note the little buttons on them.
Jennifer Brongil Darlene on the left and her older sister, Alice on the right with their paternal grandparents Adam and Louisianna Croman.
Jennifer Brongil This was taken in 1932. A family photo with Henry and Lorane Croman, parents of Alice (left), Darlene, (right), Catherine in front and baby Irvin held by Lorane.
Jennifer Brongil Darlene at 9 years of age.
Viola Warren Maybe 7th and 8th grade.
Jennifer Brongil This was Darlene at the age of 12 in a dress she made herself standing in front of the car she learned to drive.
Jennifer Brongil 1940 Darlene with her siblings Alice, Catherine, Irvin and Farrell.
Jennifer Brongil Darlene was a majorette and tried to teach her daughters how to twirl a baton.
Jennifer Brongil Mom at age 14 in 1941.
Jennifer Brongil This is such a good picture of Mom with her Mom and siblings. The year was 1941. From back row left to right is Alice, Lorane, Darlene and front row is Catherine, Farrell and Irvin. Catherine's birthday was on May 8.
1941 was a good year for Mom. She was in the 8th grade and graduated from elementary school with perfect attendance that year.
Jennifer Brongil
Jennifer Brongil This is Alice and Darlene (on the right) with their maternal grandmother, Myrtle Moore.
Jennifer Brongil Darlene on her 16th Birthday.
Jennifer Brongil On September 15, 1944 Darlene married Warren Thomson. They later divorced on September 24, 1968.
Viola Warren First born and only son.
Viola Warren
Viola Warren This beautiful child, Dolly was lost to DDT. This tragic time was a definer that shaped so much of moms life. She later lost another daughter, Velma. Velma was lost to birth defects, she was loved and missed too, but it was Dollys loss that haunted mom.
Viola Warren Warren, Darlene, Viola and Donald, about 1951. Not sure if this was California or Washington. Times were really tough then, living was hard for parents. Mom and Dad always worked together.
Not in my memory, but told to me. I was probably about three years old. Mom had a job picking pears and she took her two children with her. The orchard was on a hill side and I was down the hill from mom. She heard me say "Mom I'm afraid of that big kitty!" and she looked down to see a mountain lion crouched and its eyes focused on me. Mom ran down...
Viola Warren Mom with "Butch Cassidy" and "Annie Oakley". This was about 1954.
Sister Jennifer was a just walking and mom didn't want to put up a Christmas tree fearing she would get hurt. So she took some boughs and made a tree on the wall, complete with decorations! It was a great idea and got a lot of comments. I was reading a magazine recently where they where telling people how to do that! Mom was ahead of her time!
Mom had high standards of cleanliness when it came to our clothes. She used to say it was okay to wear patches but it was not okay to were safety pins. Our hair had to be combed and out of our face. No matter if she had to pack the water, once a week we all got bathed. We were to make our bed and I remember family shoe polishing bouts. I hated home...
Viola Warren Clearing brush, notice the headscarves. That was a must for hard outdoor work.
Jennifer Brongil By 1963 their family was complete with oldest son Don, daughters Viola, Jennifer and Sandy. 2 daughters, Dolly and Velma, previously died as infants.
Viola Warren Moms brothers, Farrell, Marlin and Irvin. Taken at their moms house in Clarkston, but not sure of year.
My future husband had a little maroon MGB. He took mom to town one day while visiting with us. She got such a kick out of riding in that car! She told me years later that was one of the memories she had of Gary.
Viola Warren This was a very big achievement, and it gave me confidence to go back to school myself.
Jennifer Brongil After Darlene's divorce from Warren she went back to school, got her GED, a certificate in basic accounting and a job with the Clarkston Washington police department. Being an accomplished seamstress, she made her own official uniform.
Jennifer Brongil Darlene married Vern Coulter on October 30, 1969. They later divorced June 17, 1986.
Viola Warren Viola, Darlene, Grand son Terry, and Darlenes dad, Henry. Mom wrote on the back of the picture "we must of not liked whoever was taking this picture!" This was maybe 1974 or 1975. Who picked out our clothes?!?
We didn't live close to mom, so when she came to visit it was always a special occasion. Our son was 8 years old when mom and he made a bunch of apple turn overs. They where all for Terry to enjoy when ever he wanted. My memory is of them making them together in our kitchen, and his delight in them, like a little gift from her every time he enjoyed...
Jennifer Brongil Mom was very active throughout her life in the Grange. In 1981 she earned the highest degree presented by the State Grange. That of Flora. Then she went on to earn the highest degree presented by the National Grange. That of Ceres. She earned accolades from the state Secretary in 1982 and 1983 for the good work she did as Secretary of the local Grange.
Jennifer Brongil On February 2, 1987, Darlene married A. Frank Durden. She met him while organizing entertainment featuring the Washington Old Time Fiddlers. They traveled together in their motor home attending Fiddler functions until Frank's passing in 2000.
Viola Warren Louie was another friend of mom and Frank. He came after Pete, and I am not sure of the year. He taught mom it is "the size of the fight in the dog". She worried about him so much, she found him a home with some people with a lot of energy.
Viola Warren Pete sitting on Franks shoulder. Not sure of the year. Pete was a character and kept both mom and Frank entertained.
Jennifer Brongil Mom was baptized and joined the Methodist church in Yelm, Wa in 1993.
Viola Warren Mom with daughter, Sandy and grand daughter Ela. Year? Not sure.
I kept a card Mom had sent my husband during one of his times of ill health. In it, she wrote "Dear Gary, was going to send flowers but settled on a picture of my tulips and some gas money so you could go fishing." She loved to fish and was lucky to have two son in laws that did too! The card was much appreciated.
Viola Warren Family gathering following loss of Frank.
Jennifer Brongil This was a celebration of Mom's 80th birthday. We had a fish fry. This was after her fishing trip on the tally ho.
Jennifer Brongil For Darlene's 80th birthday she wanted to go deep sea fishing. So her sons in law took her out on the Tally Ho. Later we had a fish fry at the park to eat the catch. She caught the first and most fish on the boat that day.
Viola Warren This was Rudy. He lived with mom and keep her company for many years. She seemed to understand everything about him and he adored her. He sang her the most beautiful songs.
Viola Warren Caught in the Coquille river in Oregon. I got two stories about who actually caught it, Mom or her son in law, Ray. It's just another "big fish story", but a beauty of a memory.
Viola Warren We were visiting, the lady "with the traveling scissors" came and cut mom hair. Gary had his hair cut too. We had a good time laughing and commenting about the grey hair on the floor.
Jennifer Brongil This photo was taken in March of 2010, Chlo-he was just a baby bunny then. But Mom thought he was a softy.
Viola Warren Mom and her sister Alice. I am not sure of year, but mom enjoyed her visit very much. They didn't get to see each other often.
Jennifer Brongil Mom had a few lifelong friends, and Ida was one of them. Ida's daughter Carol, brought her to Bandon to visit Mom. Ida passed away shortly after her visit to Bandon. Mom had met Ida when they worked together in the frozen food factory in the early 1960's.
Jennifer Brongil This is Mom's younger sister, Catherine, visiting Mom on Catherine's 80th birthday. Her son Jeff brought her to Bandon to visit Mom from her home in Fruitland, Idaho. They had a good visit.
Viola Warren Mom loved geraniums, and boy, could she ever grow them!
Viola Warren This is mom and her friend Frances. They were competing at an apron contest. Mom's apron won, and she was so very happy, but it was all a fun time.
Jennifer Brongil This is a picture of Mom I really like. I took her to the neurologist and this was taken in the parking lot of the office.
Jennifer Brongil In January of 2016 Mom went into assisted living. Here she is with her friend baking. Something Mom really missed was making bread at home. She had an instinctive sense of when it was done in the oven. She could tell by the weight of the loaf she told me.
Viola Warren Mom with daughter Sandy and grands, mom with her children, and mom just enjoying the day. This was on her 90 birthday. (three pictures, scroll thru.)
Jennifer Brongil For Darlene's 90th birthday we got as many of the family as we could together to celebrate. By this time she was in assisted living in Aberdeen Wa. This photo includes 4 generations.
Viola Warren Mom with her great grand son. Mom so loved holding babies.
Jennifer Brongil Mom always liked maple bars. When I was looking for a special treat for her I could always please with a maple bar. Here she is enjoying one at Westhaven Villa where she made her home in assisted living for four years.
Viola Warren Mom at 91. I didn't get to share this with her, my sister did, and she shared the photo with me. Mom looks very happy here.
Jennifer Brongil This is a time we took Mom fishing at Aberdeen Lake. She was funny in that she didn't want to put bait on her hook. She said she had caught fish before with no bait.
Viola Warren We called this "four old ladies" and had a good laugh about it. With mom are two of her daughters, Viola (holding old dog Pearl) and Jennifer.
Viola Warren Jennifer and I were visiting mom and we brought her to the trailer park to sit around the camp fire and have dinner. She was warming up in my motorhome. It reminded her of the motorhome she used to have and drive.
Viola Warren This was when Jen and I visited mom in 2019. We had a nice lazy visit.
Jennifer Brongil Mom really thought Tonya was an exceptional caregiver while she was living at Westhaven Villa. Tonya was so good about taking time to talk with Mom and give her hugs. The family really appreciates her caring ways.
Mom started her daughters cooking at a young age. I remember kneading bread dough. I would think I was done and mom would show me how the dough wasn't elastic enough. I think of that every time I bake bread. I also know how to tap it for doneness. Thank you mom!
Several places we lived, mom did the laundry with a ringer washer, outdoors a lot of the time. I remember helping her by stirring the laundry with a big stick and feeding it through the wringer, then I would hold the basket while mom hung the wet clothes on the line. We'd have to shake the jeans to soften them up.
On June 29, 2020, daughters Viola and Jennifer went to the Skilled Nursing Facility and brought mom to Bandon, Oregon, home of Jennifer. We called it the pineapple express. This is during the Covid pandemic so it was very difficult. We traveled the 330 miles in the motorhome over 2 days. Mom was in a lot of pain but she was so glad to have some tim...
Jennifer Brongil This is the memorial for Mom at Sandy's house. Created by 3 generations, Sandy, Sandy's girls Ela and Emy and their children, Eli, Madison, Aubry and Asher. She is loved.
Viola Warren Mom had a real talent for baking, and she loved sharing both her baked goods and her recipes. She is shown with grand daughter Netty and great grand son Havoc. Can you just smell the cookies?
We took a lot of Sunday drives as children with our parents. Mom made a big quilt out of used jeans that would be spread out on the ground in a shady area and we would feast on the basket of food she packed, fried chicken and potato salad. We always looked forward to the stopping and eating part of the drive.
Mom was a great cook, she didn't always have ingredients she would of liked to have, but she could always create a tasty meal. Her breads and biscuits where the best! I remember her cooking on a wood kitchen stove. She would sprinkle some salt on the top of the stove and brown a thick slab of home made bread on it. Put some home made apricot jam on...
One memory I have involved Lucky Charms cereal. Whenever we visited Grandma and Vernon in Clarkston, she always had Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast. For a little kid who didn't get this cereal at home, it was the greatest thing ever! She also had that set of collectable glasses with the cartoon characters on them - I remember one of the glasses h...
One time I took mom to the ER and she told the doctor she was a "has been." But, OH, what I has been. He and the nurse got a real kick out of that. She had a good sense of humor.
We've talked a lot about Mom's great cooking but she was also a great seamstress. When we were little she sewed our clothes for school. I remember a few outfits in particular where she would sew a couple of skirts in two different fabrics then would make a matching reversible vest to go with the skirts. She made formal wear for our school dances an...
Family of Darlene, this is an invite to you to share a memory of Darlene. You knew her your whole life, that is a lifetime of memories. Looking forward to sharing some of yours!
Viola Warren "If roses grow in heaven, Lord please pick a bunch for me. Place them in my mothers arms, and tell her they're from me." (Dolores Garcia) Miss you, mom! All my love.
I was going through some of mom's papers and found this saying she had saved. It really struck me because Mom always battled poor eyesight and it caused her a lot of distress. "God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway--the good fortune to run into the ones I do like and the eyesight to tell the difference."
Mom bought me a Watkins Hearthside cookbook in 1952. It is the book I learned to cook from, and it is still my go-to book for recipes. It is one of those books you know gets used a lot by its yellow pages. This holiday season I was making a ginger cake from this book, and thanking mom once again! We miss you every day, but you are with us in so man...
Jennifer Brongil I liked this poem because it’s what I miss most, your voice and smile. Love you, Mom.
Jennifer Brongil As I am going through Mom's papers I come across things she saved and I'm thinking they met something to her. This one in particular I liked, she was successful in her life and this contains the indicators. My sister, Vi had sent it to her several years ago.
I was visiting with moms sister, Catherine on the phone, she was remembering her and mom making donuts. She said they would take them out of the oil and place them to cool, but every time they turned with more, the first ones where gone! She said there where a lot of fun times like this with her and her sister and their families. I remember the don...
Jennifer Brongil This is a photo of infant Darlene and her sister Alice. June 7th is Mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mom, we miss you.
Happy Birthday, Mom! What I am grateful for: The values you gave me, such as respecting other peoples things, no stealing, being deceitful, or hurtful. Work well, sleep some times and worry often for the ones you love. Wear clean underwear and no safety pins, patches are better than holes, polish your shoes, wash your face and eat your vegetables! ...
We're keeping the faith mom. Your daughters, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. And soon Jennifer will post a new surprise! We are doing fine, like we promised you we would. Still using the tools you gave us to cope with life's problems, still missing the phone calls, still talking things over with you in our heads an...
Mom and I were both dentures wearers. She asked me one time if I ever made faces at myself in the mirror. After that we made faces at each other a lot and laughed liked like silly little girls. Every time I put my dentures in, I remember mom. "You gotta laugh at yourself.."
Jennifer Brongil Mom, you rocked so many grandkids in this rocking chair. Now I’m rocking my great granddaughter in it.
I've been listening to moms music and dancing around here like I remember her doing. She always said it was good exercise, she was right!
Mom had beautiful hands. Not the commercial type, the strong yet gentle kind that could rub an aching leg, remove a splinter or push a car out of a mud hole. As she aged it wasn't her hands that started to fail her, it was her eyesight. Her hands were always looking for more to do. I miss holding those hands.
Viola Warren Mom sent this to me after we lost dad. Mom told me how much she appreciated what you, Jennifer, were doing for her. Mom had a lot of love, and she gave it freely.
Happy Mothers Day Mom, where ever you are! Not the same day with out you! Here's hugs sent up to you.
Viola Warren Seeing more red these days, goes good with gray!
It's summer again. Brings back memories of sitting on the porch and spitting watermelon seeds. All of us laughing with juice running all over our arms. And the tomato sandwiches! Tomatoes from the garden and sometimes a thin slice of onion on homemade bread with a little mayo. What a memory! Thank you, mom!
Jennifer Brongil This is the geranium I got for Mom’s memorial in 2021. She loved geraniums and African violets. And she could really grow both.
Mom, lost you four years ago today, and still I find myself heading to the phone to call you. Would love hearing your voice again!