Moms don’t stop being moms.
Even when they’re 70 and on the mend from a recent medical procedure.
That’s why Ellen Christine Core Colflesh — “Chris,” to her friends and former co-workers at Mon General and elsewhere — politely broke off her call for a moment the other day.
One of her daughters, Karey Colflesh, was heading out to take part in a charity golf event and Mom needed to offer encouragement.
“Hey,” she sang out to her 30-year-old daughter, who is a veteran Special Olympics competitor across West Virginia and the region.
“Have fun. Do a good job, OK? I love you.”
Colflesh came back on the line with a smile in her voice.
“We keep that kid busy,” the Granville woman said of the schedule she and her husband Rick maintain for their youngest.
Except, she said, she’s not really a kid anymore — not even with the Down syndrome and its daily challenges.
But Colflesh, it can be said, is still a mom — now and forever.
And today is Mother’s Day, an observance that has strength in numbers for her. One number in particular.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I might have to start playing Powerball.”
We’ll get to that.
Maternal matters
When Colflesh was born in Morgantown, she was tended to by her mother, Sally, and her grandmother, Edith.
You never know how the cards are going to get shuffled and dealt, she said.
Her parents divorced and she went to live with her grandmother for a time.
When she thinks about it, she characterizes herself as being pretty lucky when it came to maternal nurturing.
Both her grandmother and her mom were strong, she said, and they taught her to be strong, also.
They taught her the value of hard work and the importance of staying focused on career goals. Colflesh didn’t have to look around too hard for the latter.
“I knew from the time I was 4 years old, I bet, that I wanted to be a nurse.”
So she went out and became one, working part-time and full-time jobs to pay her way through the program at then-Fairmont State College.
Colflesh worked for more than two decades at then-Mon General Hospital and also for other physicians in private practice in Morgantown. Her career took in 48 years.
Along the way, she met and married Rick Colflesh and they produced two daughters: Kristen and her little sister, Karey.
When Karey came along and the diagnosis was made, it changed the overall family dynamic for the better.
Early on, the separation of her parents was hardly amicable, Colflesh said.
Both parents had second marriages. Contact between the former spouses was almost nonexistent, until everybody started rallying for Karey.
With another daughter, plus an all-encompassing job that demanded evening shifts and holidays, it just happened.
“We ended up being our own support system,” she said.
A former wife and a current wife became friends — and so did two husbands who before had shuffled awkwardly with their hands in their pockets in each other’s presence.
Karey became the rallying point, with everyone celebrating her gains and keeping vigil in the hospital whenever medical circumstances would arise.
“Good thing I’m a nurse,” Colflesh said.
Kristin went into special education because of all the above and now teaches at Ridgedale Elementary — after logging time in schools in Pennsylvania before getting the opportunity to move back home.
By the time it was all done, everyone was taking family vacations.
As Colflesh said, strength in numbers — with, again, one number in particular.
Happy Birthday to you. And you. And you. Yeah, you too.
The nurse can’t help but be struck by the way the stork lined up his visits in her family. It might even be the ultimate vital sign, she said.
Her birthday is Dec. 15.
Edith’s is Sept. 15.
Sally first showed her face to the world April 15. Kristen was welcomed July 15.
“We [have] all the seasons represented on the same day,” she said.
Is it the power of 15? Well, heck, she said: Maybe it is.
It’s definitely family love multiplied by 15, she said, which in turn is multiplied by 1,000 — and way, way more than that.
And with today being Mother’s Day, the nurse can’t help but prescribe some maternal advice.
If you don’t have to call on your mom at the cemetery, she said, go see her in her kitchen for some coffee. Take some time with her.
Take a moment to realize all the things she did for you as you were growing up.
All the sacrifices.
All the yelling, too, which — if you really think about it — you did bring upon yourself, in more than few cases.
“She loves you, you know,” Colflesh said.
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