Friday, May 6, 2005 | 4:29 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
May 7 - 8, 2005
Twelve women were honored last week as Clark County Mothers of Honor by the Mother of the Year Awards Committee, a nonprofit group of community-minded people dedicated to honoring the "unsung heroes" -- mothers.
The honorees were nominated by friends, family and colleagues, who noted their dedication and giving natures. Here are their stories, written by Paula Francis of KLAS-TV Channel 8.
Inspirational Mother
J.D. Hughes
J.D. Hughes has been a lifelong inspiration to her only child, her daughter, Lorinda Fowler, who describes her mother as selfless, kind and diplomatic. Her inspiration extended beyond her own family, as she fought for civil rights, voting rights and the betterment of all.
Hughes worked long days at the Metropolitan Police Department and then took on the role of supermom and community activist at night. Her daughter swears she has a cape under her uniform. She juggled time with family, speaking engagements and work.
She has been a "mender of broken hearts, a peacemaker, a beacon of hope and a pillar of wisdom." She has worked on political campaigns, but also knows how to make a spectacular scrapbook.
Even as this mother battles advanced stage lung cancer, her daughter says in her own words nominating her mother, "She is my rock. My light. My wings. My example. My power. My reason. My life."
Motivational Mother
Lillie Williams
Lillie Williams is raising five children on her own. She's also a teacher and a coach and, her daughter Kimberly Booker says, she needs and deserves a break.
On top of her duties at work and her responsibilities at home, Williams is working toward her master's degree at the University of Phoenix.
A few years ago Williams and her five children were involved in a car accident. They nearly lost their lives, but God -- and their seat belts -- kept them safe. The terrible experience brought the family even closer together. Booker says her mother always knows what to do and what to say. She always has a smile on her face, whatever life brings.
Her 17-year-old daughter was just diagnosed with diabetes, and she says her mother helps her through this latest struggle as she has helped her through everything in life.
Volunteer Mother
Maria Luevanos
Maria Luevanos and her husband are raising five kids, ages 3 to 17. She also works outside the home and finds time to volunteer as well.
Her friend Angela Triche says this woman affects the lives of hundreds of people everyday at Sunrise Children's Foundation. She helps her husband with the youth soccer league, which they founded, and becomes a second mom to many of the children. Triche says she has "profound admiration" for Luevanos and her remarkable abilities at work, home and away.
Luevanos' family says to look at her life on paper you would not realize how accomplished she is. Although she didn't get her wisdom from books, she certainly has more than many people who did. She had a hard time while growing up, and has "pledged her life" to making things better for her own kids and the many other kids in her extended family. She also gives something "rare: everlasting love." She can bring a smile to anyone's face, no matter what their age or situation.
She was nominated for the award by her family and friend Triche. The nominating letter from her family says, "This Mom has got it goin' on!"
Sustaining Mother
Maggie Marti
Maggie Marti had to grow up fast. At the age of 6, her father's remarriage made her "an instant babysitter" to her stepbrothers and stepsisters. Maybe it was that early responsibility that helped shape her as the remarkable woman she has become. Marti never went to college and has had to scramble financially, going from one job to another, yet she made ends meet.
She made sacrifices so her children could have what they needed. As a young woman, she brought her family to Las Vegas to make a better life -- coming all the way from Havana to Southern Nevada. She raised four children, including twins, which are always a handful in the best of circumstances. And she had little help along the way.
Despite her own hardships, this woman has always made sure her family could get by. She sustains them, as adults, even when their financial problems coincide with her own.
She didn't know English when she arrived in this country, and today she is fluent in both English and Spanish. She's not only a great mom, but now a great grandmom.
She was nominated by her daughter Vanessa Mitchell, one of the twins.
Supportive Mother
Colleen Pautz
Any child who can use the word "thirdly" must have a terrific mom, right? So you'll agree that's the case with Colleen Pautz.
Her son, Matthew, asks rhetorically, "Why is she better than any other mother?" Because he can count on her. He feels safe with her, and she has a lot of common sense. She doesn't yell at him or hit him. When she says no, she explains why, and then, he says, "I realize that she was right and I feel better."
Pautz is a parent in the truest sense, not trying to be his "friend," but instead making sure he knows what's right and wrong. She teaches him life lessons. She makes him earn things, and has taught him to work for what he wants. He says she's making him independent that way.
Pautz works three and even four jobs when she needs to reach a goal, such as earning a college degree or paying off medical bills.
Her son says she is always there for him, such as the time he was in the hospital. Afterward, she took him to Utah for a vacation, taking him fishing every day for 16 days.
When the boy was just 4, his dad passed away, and Pautz has been a single mom ever since. But, he says, nonetheless, she's "the best!"
Exemplary Mother
Karen Davis
Karen Davis is raising seven children. Enough said, right? Well, wait until you hear about her children. Let's start with Julie, the eldest. After graduating at the top of her class from Chapparal High School, Julie is a freshman at UNLV. She plays jazz piano and sings in the choir. In fact, four of the eldest children play piano, and they were taught by their mother.
Next is Robert, 17, attending Del Sol High School. Also musical, he sings in the choir, and is an athlete and superb scholar.
Then there's Linda, a freshman at Del Sol, and she plays first violin in the school orchestra. Amy's next, a Woodbury Middle School student, who dances and plays music, too.
We have yet to hear the musical stylings from 2 1/2-year-old Christianne and 3-month-old James, but early reports are that they are looking at the piano curiously.
Six children require a lot of energy from any mom. But we meet Richard, who falls in the middle, at age 10. Richard takes a little more energy. He has "dandy walker syndrome." He cannot speak, cannot get out of his wheelchair and needs to be fed. He needs physical therapy every day.
Davis has turned out seven special children, who rely upon her and each other. This is a family of exceptionally strong people. Although, I'll bet, they don't even give it a second thought. They're too busy living life to its fullest, despite the challenges.
She was nominated by Myrna Wadsworth and Ronda Okuda.
Education Mother
Mary Ellen King
Mary Ellen King's younger daughter finished her nominating letter by saying "I love my mother more than she will ever know."
King and her husband have three children and seven grandchildren. They all have short names, which is good, because this woman is really busy. She has a master's degree in elementary education, and she has been teaching for 30 years. She also opened a dance school with her eldest child, 22 years ago. Her girls call her the Energizer Bunny because she never stops. She's still running her grandchildren around, now that her own children are finished with their piano lessons and other after-school activities.
She was recently awarded the Teacher of the Year at Merryhill Pre-School in Summerlin. She was nominated by her daughters Ann and Kim.
Encouraging Mother
Sue Eyring
Sue Eyring is so loved by her five children, that when she sits down, they almost smother her with hugs. Except she doesn't have time to sit down often.
Her husband, Tim, who nominated her, says each of her deliveries was accompanied by medical problems. Her youngest was born just two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and she got off her hospital bed to return home when she heard the news. She could not imagine being anywhere else on such a tragic day. Her family needed her.
Her eldest daughter is 12, and her reading teacher recently approached Tim in a store, and said what a good student she is, with such a strong work ethic. He says that comes straight from Eyring. She is getting almost straight A's in school. The nominating letter says the daughter gets her tenacity from her mother.
High-risk pregnancies and premature deliveries did not slow Eyring. She has persevered in the most important role of her life, and that is being a mom. She left her first job, where she was a valued and honored employee, to stay home from the moment she started having her children. Since then she has become a substitute teacher, and she helps in a class of children with disabilities.
Nurturing Mother
Sharlene Wisespirit Frank
Fate is no match for a loving heart. When Sharlene Wisespirit Frank's brother died, she was devastated, but she gathered her strength and opened her home to his three children. She and her husband had three of their own.
In the nominating letter, her nieces, Marcia and Lonita Bushhead, say her love is like "a big quilt," warming the entire family.
Wisespirit Frank took a tragedy, and turned it into happiness. She was the best of moms, to her own kids and her brother's kids. She helped them over the terrible loss of their dad, and made sure they never felt as though they were a burden.
She taught the two nieces everything a growing girl needs -- how to cook, clean, put on makeup, and she even knows what to do in all those tricky situations that are an inevitable part of growing up.
Wisespirit Frank grew up on the Moapa Indian Reservation. Her niece says she is a strong lady, "both physically and spiritually." The younger niece never knew her own mother, but Wisespirit Frank filled the empty space in her heart, and then some.
Community Service Mother
Erin Cranor
Erin Cranor seems to have the ability to get 34 hours of work out of every 24-hour day. Her husband, Bud, who nominated her, says she is a community activist, successful businesswoman and accomplished scientist, but her most important job is being mom to their four kids.
When they were first married, Cranor earned her master's degree in developmental biology, and used it to make a difference in millions of people's lives. She conducted vital research on the effect of drugs on pregnant mothers and their unborn children.
When she started having her own children, she took her work inside her home. She began writing grants for nonprofit agencies, and literally raised millions of dollars for the Andre Agassi Boys & Girls Clubs and many other agencies that benefit children.
Cranor now has her own business, helping charities get the grants they need to succeed.
She is active in her church, PTA and as a den leader for two Boy Scout troops. She even assists the school zoning commission, which affects the lives of 280,000 school students.
It's no easy task, either. She walks neighborhoods to see if children will have a safe route to school, and she does her best to keep disruption to a minimum.
But with all of this, her children know her best as a devoted mom. She walks them to school and helps with homework while making dinner for the family. They often accompany her when she takes home-baked bread to the needy or bereaved.
Endearing Mother
Venna Davis
Born LaVenna Leavitt, Venna Davis is a mother of five, grandmother of 11, great-grandmother to one and has hundreds of nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives. Pamela "Pami" Lange, the person who nominated her, isn't even among that group of relations but she felt the special love of this mom and says the whole town knows this woman.
She was born more than 80 years ago in Bunkerville. She married a soldier, as did so many young women of her day, and together they raised their five children with a strong sense of community conscience. The family business is a nursery, and it's more than plants and trees. It's a metaphor for the way they live: growing with the community, and helping others grow, too.
Davis never turns down a request from a school for a badly needed shrub or tree, and she teaches us all to love the natural beauty of the desert that surrounds us.
Known as Mom Davis, she still goes to work every day, and her loving and caring attitude is felt by all her employees, and all her extended family.
Lange came into her home at a time of desperate need. She became a member of the family, and whenever this woman's own children received something special, there was always something for Pami, too.
Enduring Mother
Mildred Leavitt
Mildred Leavitt took on a whole new family at a time when most women are just beginning to relax and reap the rewards of a life well-lived. At age 57, she and her husband took in their four young grandchildren to raise. The joys and difficulties of dealing with kids began all over again. She not only "managed," she excelled, just as she had with her own children.
She is well-known in the legal community because her husband, Elway, is a prominent attorney. She was by his side much of the time as his career began. She was a legal secretary. His partners often said they'd pay for her divorce, if she'd come work for them.
Their success bore fruit, and she and her husband became the proverbial pillars of the community. She began to enjoy herself, entertaining the neighborhood children and taking up gourmet cooking. When her new family arrived suddenly, she made the necessary adjustments and never looked back.
Her granddaughter Laurel Leavitt Beckstead, who nominated her, says she often found Leavitt in her bedroom during the day, kneeling to pray, perhaps for strength to get through everything she needed to do.
When Leavitt and her husband celebrated their 50th anniversary, droves of people came by, retelling stories of how this family had touched their lives. Their granddaughter came to understand how her beloved grandparents had affected so very many people, and yet this Leavitt made time for her second generation of kids.
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