Lillie J. Pool

Honored by:Victoria Pool-Hyett
Brick location:G:13  map

Born: March 27, 1932

In terms of notoriety my mother Lillie may seem insignificant. To family and friends however she is monumental.

During the 1950's when patriarchy was at its peak my mother established an egalitarian household. I did not realize until I started school that the other kids mom's did not do auto repair plumbing electrical work and such. I remember one incident as a teenager in which my brother and I were out with friends. The car we were driving broke down and we all went inside a grocery store to call my parents. My father answered the phone and my brother said "Dad could you get mom on the phone the car broke down." As our friends were gasping in bewilderment my brother was requesting that mom grab her tool box and come out to help us fix the car. What seemed very strange to our friends was perfectly normal to us.

In Lillie's life she has done many extraordinary things especially when you account for the fact that she never made it past the eighth grade in formal education. She has drawn blue prints and overseen the construction of that plan for a home appraised at over a quarter of a million dollars in the 1980's. She has completely restored a vintage Thunderbird by doing an engine overhaul and body restoration. She loves to ride motorcycles and drive tractor trailers long distance. Quite a feat considering she stands only 4 feet 11 inches.

My mother's soul is intertwined with nature. I learned at a very young age to listen to the world around me. As children she would take my brothers and I out in our yard to follow ants and watch them build and carry objects 10 times there size. She would take us into the forest and we would lay on the ground. Mom would say "Listen to the forest because if you are very quiet it will tell you a story." Lillie understood and passed onto her children respect for the valuable resources that we have been given.

When other mothers avoided telling their daughters about womanhood my mother taught me to embrace it. I know because the other girls in school came to me for information regarding sex and their bodies. Unlike many of my peers I was not shocked or surprised at any changes in my body or mind. My mother was my closest friend and still is to this day.

If you asked my mother what her greatest accomplishment in life is she would point to her children grandchildren and great grandchildren. Presently motherhood still seems to be a less valued career choice. Lillie regards parenthood as the single most important job that either man or woman can choose to undertake. She has taught all her children to be self-reliant self-confident equal and most important to love themselves so that they may love others.

Lillie Welch-Pool is a woman that presently remains a few steps ahead in her thinking and in her approach to life. She is the one person in the family that even the youngest people in the family go to for guidance which usually involves listening and then advising us to listen to ourselves where our answers will be found.

For these reasons and countless more her daughter (Victoria Pool-Hyett) wishes to honor Lillie as one of the great heroines of our time.

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