Birth date: May 13, 1931 Death date: Jan 11, 2013
Ramola “Jean” Cleland age 81 of St. Clair died Friday January 11, 2013. She was born May 13, 1931, in Muncie, Indiana to the late George and Edith Condon. Jean married Earl Cleland on January 27,1951 and he preceded her in death o Read Obituary
God bless you all. My prayers are with you!
I've got a ton of memories and I've have been thinking about them all day on which memory was the most meaningful and I can't just share one. My first was at Grandma Condon's upstairs. The bedroom that my mom and aunt shared. I remembered starring at their graduation pictures looking for similarities and differences between the two of them. I studied those photographs scanning their hair, eyes & smiles.
I remember getting yelled at for climbing the cherry tree on Dresden St. I loved climbing that tree. I remember how she put perfume in the hair dryer when she dried my hair and let me wear a pearl necklace. Then sternly talked to me about cutting my toe nails too short.
The day that they moved into the house on Westphalia I remembered the backyard was waist tall with uncut grass & weeds and she was mad about the bathroom windows painted shut where you couldn't open them. I liked that house and skating in the backyard. I remember the old big stove that she cooked on and wondering how something that old could possibly work anymore. But that stove made the best hot chocolate made the old fashioned way that I drank just before I went to bed when I stayed there.
She spent part of a summer with mom, Missy & me while I was newly widowed and expecting Chris. Uncle Earl was building the house on Puttygutt. It was a hot summer. We laughed, played cards, picked blueberries and talked about we would eat for our next meal. Aunt Ramola Jean hadn't worn a bathing suit in like 30 years. Once Uncle Earl heard that & he was getting in his car and driving up to my house just to see her. The bugs were really bad so she had me put mothballs in old nylons and hang them in the corners of my patio. That was the dumbest thing having what looked like nut sacks hanging from the patio ceiling. I pointed it out to her & mom and we laughed till they both peed their pants.She went home to her new house the week before I delivered Chris.
Just after 911 I had a business trip to Indy. I thought it would be nice to take her to see some of her family in Muncie. Had a great time seeing extended family and sharing photos and memories with Janet K. One afternoon while at Janet K's we were outside and we both looked up into the sky because it was strange not having planes in the air. I asked her how scary was it when they bombed Pearl Harbor ? She said she was scared but more so now because it was so close. We talked about the war shared stories about family members who served. Never knew half of the stuff she talked about.
I talked to her about a month ago . When she called I wasn't home. She left a message on the machine. She said, "Michelle call me, haven't talked to you in awhile, Wondering how you are? Call me". I did and I am so glad we talked for about 45 minutes. I will miss those talks, laughing about stupid little things, and picking out her birthday cards. She was the closest thing to my mom that I had, I loved her and will miss her, especially on May 13th.
