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May Luisa Davidson Brown passed away in Tucson, Arizona in April of 1999. The following was presented by close family friend, C. J. Olsen, at the
services.I am going to talk a little bit about my "other family": the Browns - in particular, about May Luisa Davidson Brown. I had forgotten her second name - Luisa. To us she was always May. Even when we were kids. Any kid who called her Mrs. Brown was quickly corrected: "...May..." she would say, "...call me May".
It's a good thing for me that we are all friends and family here. If I start to choke I won't feel too bad. Although May was very sentimental I don't think she'd want me making a spectacle of myself up here. Also, it is not fair to May to summarize her life in a couple of pages. I am just a speck in her life and what follows are only a few of the reasons why she is so dear and loved by us.
It seems that wherever there is a group of friends, kids, there is always that one house where they tend to go more than to any other house. A house where you were comfortable. Where you were made at ease. Where the parents didn't mind if you were a little bit rowdy, boisterous. In my childhood town, Chuqui, this house was the Brown's place. We all met there. Cynthia's friends - Leslie's and Kenny's friends. It was the place to meet - to hang out. It was the place to meet and plan. It was the starting off point for many adventures in our young lives: picnics, camping and fishing trips and the typical piling into the back of Sandy's pickup to go to the movies. This environment was made possible by the wonderful parents of that household: Sandy and May. They made you feel at home. I have talked to many of my childhood friends from Chuqui since May passed away last week and invariably one of their first exclamations was "She was like a mother to me!". This is what they remember. May fussing over you, making sure you had enough to eat and drink. It seems like there was always an extra place at their table. In my case, because I practically lived there, I didn't need an invitation. I just sat down and was fed. No questions asked. It was a done deal. And a pretty good deal it was too, because May's cooking was great! Whenever my parents would leave town and didn't want me hanging around I would stay at the Brown's. I didn't even have to call. I would just arrive there with my toothbrush and some extra clothes and May would take over. It was her nature. Nobody was going to bed hungry or cold in her house.
May was a good sport, too. She had a great smile and would always laugh even at our dumb kid jokes. You could hear her laughter two houses down the street. I don't remember her being annoyed with any of us. When things got too out of hand she would chase us out of the house pretending she was going to whack us with a broom. She never did. When we were older but not old enough to have a driver's license we would sometimes get caught by the Carabineros. One of the parents we would call to bail us out would be Sandy or May.
I mentioned that May was very sentimental. Sometimes when she was doing housework or cooking, a song would play on the radio and she would stop doing whatever it was she was doing and sit down and listen to the song until it ended. It seems the song would transport her somewhere into the past, to some event, or remind her of some dear person close to her heart. Sometimes there were tears.
There were may good times but also hardships in May's life - this kind and gentle soul. I do think she worried too much. Not for herself, but for everybody else. For May life wasn't complicated. It was simple. You took care of your husband, your kids, everyone else's kids and you spread love everywhere.
Those of us who had the good fortune of having had May touch our lives are very lucky indeed. We are still lucky. Although May has left us we don't have to look very far to see the twinkle in her eyes and her smile. That smile that tells you that only she and you share some deep secret. We don't have to look very far to share her generosity. "Sit down sonny boy. Have another piece of pie, another drink." To be with her again we only have to be with and look into the faces of her kids: Cynthia, Leslie, Kenny, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
I can assure you that when it's our turn to go to that a promised place, May will be there to make sure we lack nothing.
Farewell, May Luisa Davidson
