Did You Ever?

This book happened because one day in 1970 my mother began saying a poem to me. I told her to stop and I ran to get a tape recorder. Next came the poem, "Did You Ever?" exactly as it is in the book. From that point on I recorded as Mom told me more of her life story as a young girl and she also spoke, "My Father's Gallery" as it is printed in the book. It also recounts how mom and I were born again in 1972 in Socorro, New Mexico. Mary Ellen DeRyke Bendele was born in 1926 in Portland, Oregon. She lived in Douglas county and she had three sisters. She was a housewife and mother to eight boys and one girl. Her father was an artist who painted many paintings and even painted cathedrals. She was raised Roman Catholic much of her life and was born again with her son Paul in 1972. She loved to paint pictures in words as can be seen in the poems in this book.