That Merriem Palitz was the bane of my teenage years and then the object of my admiration long after that says less about her than it does the parochial interests of a 16-year-old.
Her son, Al, and I were best friends and she kept an east Bakersfield eagle eye on the high jinks teenagers are prone to explore. Given her ability to intuit what was happening from 5 miles away, I am surprised Merriem ever let her son visit or spend the night.
What a woman. Merriem, who died recently at 98, was easily the smartest woman, I’ve ever met. She was so smart, you didn’t know how smart she was or how much she knew. Trained as a lawyer, she became an English professor and taught at Bakersfield College. She was an early model in Bakersfield (Juliet Thorner was another) for what it looked like to be a professional and to raise kids (she was married to the surgeon Shepard Palitz for 70 years).
Merriem was an incredible poet, wrote beautiful letters and could remember Supreme Court decisions verbatim from 60 years ago. She took tennis lessons into her 70s and 80s, because there was always room for improvement. She had a make-you-chuckle sense of humor that told you something about yourself and hinted at something about her.
When I managed to get on her good side, she helped me with my SATs, help that only went so far because I could not convince her to take the test in my stead.
Merriem was the mother of all mothers. Nobody loved their kids more and poured more into them. Not only did they turn out well but “more” spilled into the next two generations and I wouldn’t bet against the third.
Stacey Bell responded to the column about being permanently furloughed from making the bed.
“I too made the bed for 30+ years. My husband’s philosophy was there was no need to make it since we were just going to undo it at the end of the day. After he retired, he agreed to make the bed on weekdays. He decided if he was going to do it he would be creative and make it fun. I never realized how many ways one could make a bed, since no two days are ever the same."
Bell shared an image of what she called husband John's "goal post creation" that "must have been during football season.”
Lois Ernst responded to the column on baseball caps and how everybody has more hats than they realize:
“I can relate. My husband has at least 15 caps (and counting). He seems to favor his travel caps, his Hawaii, Barcelona, and Catalina. The Islands are the three most worn.
We enjoy hitting estate sales on the weekends. He found a Buck Owens' Golf invitational cap somewhere along the way.”
Robin Jaske emailed with a strategy for dealing with this year’s hard-to-kill, ankle-biting mosquitoes.
“I wet the palm of my hand and 'offer up' the other arm. As soon as they take the bait, WHAM! Works well for me anyway.”
Etta Robin responded to the column about the “joys” of white bread:
“Around age 8, while a student in elementary school in Chicago, I joined my class on a visit to the Wonder Bread factory. What made a lifetime impression on me was when the person leading the class tour took a slice of white bread into his hand and said, 'Now this is something special that you can only do with our Wonder White Bread,' and proceeded to squash the bread in his hand from slice to lump of 'squished mess.'
"I went home and told my parents, 'Never, ever will I eat another piece of white bread.' I have lived this commitment ever since and have enjoyed 81 years of healthy living.”
Donna Cazacus wrote in about the column on Robert Provencio's retirement from leading the Bakersfield Master Chorale.
"Thanks for the update on Dr. Provencio — I loved singing in the CSUB community choir under his direction a few years ago. My ability to read music has always been 'it’s going up or down,' but Dr. Provencio made the experience so much fun. He confirmed that I was a soprano (first soprano, at the time), and we all embraced him lovingly poking fun at the sopranos.”
Thank goodness for the sopranos who are always on their way up.
September 22, 2020 at 04:19AM
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HERB BENHAM: Mothers, made beds and 'mess' of Wonder bread - The Bakersfield Californian
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Herb
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