Mary Louise Bing

is honored with a Brick from Bonnie Bing Honeyman.

Mary Louise Hearne Bing is my mother. She's the mom all the kids in school wished they had and a person who has truly cherished her station in life as mother and wife. Perhaps that's why she has always been a stabilizing factor when we needed her to be, as well as a problem solver, and the person who could make us laugh regardless of the situation.

She was born and reared in Latham, Kansas, where she knew every person in town and was the star of the girl's high school basketball team. She got married when she was only 17 years old and moved to Wichita with my father, Ralph Bing.

After seven years of marriage they had my brother Eddie and three years later I was born. My younger brother Dale was born five years later.

I saw the true strength of my mom when Eddie died of cancer at the age of 16. Our lives were rocked. My parents were devastated, my little brother shocked, and I was sad and confused. Through her own pain my mom realized the importance of recognizing and dealing with the loss Dale and I had suffered .

While I was growing up she always listened to all sides of an argument before placing blame, even if that meant disagreeing with a school official. She sat through hundreds of assemblies and shows applauding my performances, and is still doing that. She spent countless hours searching with me for that perfect prom dress and never lost her patience whether she was teaching me how to drive or make gravy or listening to me whine about a boyfriend. For two months she nursed me back to health after a bad car accident and kept my spirits up while my injured leg healed.

I'm thankful for so many things in our relationship such as our private jokes. At the age of 51 I still get a Big Chief tablet at the beginning of each school year. And we still laugh recalling some of our shopping trips and vacations.

She tells me often that she is proud to say she's my mother. And I'm happy and feel blessed to be the daughter of such a loving mother. How fortunate I have been to have the kind of mother I would have strived to be if I had had a child.

Submitted by Bonnie Bing Honeyman

September 12, 1998