Play Any Song About Roses Today

My mother and I shared some things in common, but then again, she was a bit more down to earth and had a higher vocal range.

She and I were different:

• She would drink Falls City beer.
• She could sing “Amazing Grace” as a soloist for a wedding. In my two years of chorus class at Sacred Heart Academy, I lived in my mother’s shadow because Mrs. Cassady had heard my mother belt "My Old Kentucky Home" at Churchill Downs.
• She would eat pork rinds.


But we both had:

• The charm for striking up a conversation with a stranger. I remember being at my uncle’s wedding reception at Hurstbourne Country Club and seeing her chat with a new acquaintance, Denny Crum. She was in her prime in her thirties and brighter than the sun in her yellow summer dress.
• A history of posing with high school classmates on the Daniel Boone statue in Olmsted’s Cherokee Park.• The knack for entertaining with a big ole pot of red sauce.
• A complete inadequacy for controlling a temper. My mom almost threw her engagement ring off the Belle of Louisville and she torched her tulle wedding dress after a fight with my dad.
• A weakness for any song mentioning a rose. She was the daughter of Rose. One of her favorites was “Bring Me a Rose.”

In loving memory of JoAnne Farmer Hoffmann, July 16, 1935-January 16, 1987

John tells us of a time when time will be no more

In the day when the trumpet shall blow

We'll meet over yonder in that heavenly place

There, we'll see each other face to face

“Lights of the City”