Celebrating Mother’s Day with Memories

By Danielle Merrow for Hometown magazine

Justine Juart Lunsford vividly remembers the Mother’s Days she got to spend celebrating with her mom. “Every year we ‘surprised’ her with breakfast in bed,” she recalls. “We helped my dad prepare the breakfast and arrange it on the same silver tray each year. We rarely used this tray for anything else all year long. I remember it as the designated ‘Mother’s Day Breakfast Tray.’”

Justine grew up in Punxsutawney and was a member of the Class of 2003 of Punxsutawney

When Mary received a pancreatic cancer diagnosis on March 2, 2005, her family was devastated. Given her mother’s selfless nature, Justine recalls Mary’s first words to her after sharing the news of her diagnosis: “I’m sorry.” A mere eleven days later, her final words to Justine – words also conveying concern for another –came in a phone call from her hospital bed. “She asked if I was safe inside during an unexpected March snowstorm,” Justine remembers. “She passed away the very next day. She was brave and full of grace during that short time.”

Justine was left very suddenly without a recipient for her Mother’s Day breakfasts. However, Mary’s true spirit was that of a giver and a doer, which led to an instance of service during an event where she was one of the guests of honor! Justine recalls this Mother’s Day memory where her mother jumped in to help:

“Our first-grade class had a Mother’s Day performance of ‘Little Bunny Foo Foo’ complete with cake and punch afterward to enjoy with our moms. Instead of getting in line for refreshments with the other moms after the skit, MY MOM got behind the serving table and started to cut the cake, making me help serve it. I remember my thoughts so vividly (slightly annoyed that I had to wait for my dessert while everyone else was eating) – the party was for her; why was she helping?”

Area High School. She is the daughter of Gary and the late Mary Juart. Both her parents were long-time teachers in the Punxsutawney Area School District – her mother in various elementary schools and her father in the high school. Her dad was the head coach of the PAHS varsity football team for 13 years and was inducted into the Punxsutawney Sports Hall of Fame with the Class of 2017.

Justine, who is an educator like her parents, now lives in Staunton, Virginia. She commemorates Mother’s Day with memories and shares her thoughts about celebrating this special day after losing one’s mother and about honoring the memory of a lost one. She also shares the lessons she learned from her mother’s life and death. Justine continues her “Breakfast in Bed” memory. “As a child, the tray seemed so very fancy and special because it always made me think of those special mornings when we tried to make my mom feel like the queen she was. However, looking back, I’m pretty sure it was made of plastic,” she laughs. “My brother, David, and I would pile in the bed with her and eat our breakfast in her bed, too. (So much for Mother’s Day solace, huh?) We would present her with flowers and a mixture of homemade cards/gifts and purchased gifts.”

Since her mother’s passing, Justine chooses to spend Mother’s Day spreading love in her own mother’s memory. “I try to take a little time that day to reach out to others who have a special woman missing from their life to let them know they are not alone and still so loved – especially if their loss is fresh,” she says.

Her advice to others who have lost someone –specifically, on Mother’s Day, when so many are missing their mom or another female influence in their life – is to “give yourself permission to feel everything you feel. So often in grief we feel that we want to make others comfortable or ‘be strong’ because your loved one wouldn’t want you to sit around and be sad. While that might be true, there’s a lot of pressure that comes with that mindset. Giving ourselves permission to be sad and grieve for what is gone is okay.”

Justine also points out the importance of having a support system made up of people with whom you can share your feelings. “Choose people that you can be honest with and who will check in on you and just listen,” she says.

After the loss of a loved one, many feel pressure, in Justine’s words, “to do life and keep all traditions the same as when your loved one was alive.” Although continuing such traditions is a way to honor and remember loved ones, keeping them can be sad and painful. “It’s okay to create new traditions, too. Time certainly doesn’t heal all wounds, but it does allow us to adjust to a new