June Justine Martin

My mother June Justine , died this May on the 27th...she was just weeks shy of her 82nd Birthday, June 18, 1928. I have been looking for this picture for a couple of months...my favorite picture of my mother and myself taken in 1955, I was five years old , and adored my mother.
You do at that age ,before time changes things...it is not that you stop loving your mother, but you are forming your own opinions that sometimes clash with what your mother thinks....such is life...but I remember what a wonderful woman she was, always smelling of French perfume and always surrounded by flowers...

this was the age when your mother wore a starched apron when cooking and was always turned out...no sweat pants for my mother...the only time I ever remember her in pants was at the beach wearing a pair of pedal pushers looking very uncomfortable and when she went riding....a lady down to the tip of her fingers.... never ever leaving the house without lipstick, gloves , hat and purse ,until that was no longer was the fashion...lol....my favorite hat was the one with the resin cherries...a very cool hat !

she had a beautiful singing voice and could drawing quite well..... she played the piano and could charm the birds out of the trees ,when she put her mind to it.....her love of the arts was a bonus for me, she exposed me to music , the theather and classical painting while I was still in the stroller..... she took great pleasure in watching an artist grow.....telling everyone that I there was no doubt that she had given birth to a unique talent....that is how she saw me for as long as i can remember...ever artist needs someone that will nuture their talent and give that gentle push you need sometimes if you doubt yourself....I never had doubts about the direction my life was going to take..... I was allowed to just be an artist......she gave me a solid touch stone that some of us never get, because becoming an artst is not easy...I believe everyone has some talent, but it has to be recongnized, appreciated allowed to progress naturally so it can florish....my mother like all mothers had her faults, after all she was human....

she taught myself , my sisters and brother to stand-up for ourseleves and be independent....when I first left home after college, it hurt my mother ....being the oldest , I was so keen to stand on my own two feet and make my way....normal yes, but I imagine it was hard for my mother to come to terms with....looking back on our relationship, I see that I was lucky to have had her love and her never ending devotion to my talent ..........nothing pushy or controlling , just someone that gets you.....not everyone does

I have been twice blessed, because my husband filled that void, he like my mother he has always nurtured the artist..........all this insight is just the by product of age and knowing yourself....lucky girll...don't I know it !