This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day, the day when we remember and thank our mothers for basically everything they have done for us. The Drumheller Mail asked Norma Hautzinger to share her experiences with her mother and as a mother.
Hautzinger was born on February 14, 1926, to Walt and Matilda Stickney. She grew up in Morrin and has been a resident of Drumheller since 1955.
The Stickney’s had moved to Morrin from New Brunswick and were affectionately known as Uncle Walt and Aunt Maddy. Hautzinger had two brothers and one sister.
“She did everything there is to do for children, she was a wonderful mother,” said Hautzinger. “There’s a lot of love in the family and a lot done for us in those years.”
Hautzinger would help with cooking or gardening and spent a lot of time with her close family.
“We’ve always been a close family,” said Hautzinger.
Hautzinger recalled how kindly she and her siblings were treated and the one time in her childhood that her mom got angry.
“I only saw my mother angry once,” said Hautzinger. “I was going out the door and must have argued with her. She rolled up a magazine and hit me on the top of the head saying ‘don’t you ever speak to me like that’.”
Something that the two shared was music. Both could play music by ear, something not inherited by any other member of the family.
“She never had a lesson, she just picked it up. She passed that on to me,” said Hautzinger. “Out of my brothers and sisters, I was the one who got that talent.”
After school, Hautzinger would hop on the piano to practice.
“My mother would be in the kitchen, making supper or baking, and I would be sitting at the piano. If I made a mistake, hit the wrong key, she would say ‘Norma, go up two keys,’ or ‘Norma, you hit the wrong note, go down three,” said Hautzinger.
Hautzinger recalled her mother would play organ at the United Church, piano at community events in Morrin, and would play piano when Hautzinger would sing or dance at talent shows.
In 1955, Hautzinger had her first of three daughters.
“I tried to bring my daughters up the same way that I was,” said Hautzinger.
Hautzinger and her family remains close to this day and she is always there if her daughters need it. Growing up, Hautzinger and her daughters remained close, just as she and her mother had.
“We still are really close to each other. If they had a problem they could always come to me and talk it over, and they still can to this day,” said Hautzinger. “That was the way I brought them up, that I was close to them.”
Hautzinger and her family would regularly visit her mother at Sylvan Lake for vacations. The two remained close over the years.
There was only one time she can remember getting angry with her children and it is similar to when she was a kid.
“My daughter was going to school and she asked her to put a sweater on and she said no. I insisted, saying she would need one, because it might be cold. All she did was sigh,” said Hautzinger. “I turned around and said ‘don’t you ever talk to me like that again’. She put her sweater on.”
Hautzinger went the extra mile for her children, even going so far as to raise one of her grand daughters for a couple years until she was five.
These days, Hautzinger remains close to her family. They visit her in Drumheller and she at their respective homes regularly. One of their favourite past times when together is playing a round of golf.
However, sadly, for many years none of her children or grandchildren inherited her’s and her mother’s musical talent, until now.
“None of my children can play anything. I was thinking that someone’s got to get what I got,” said Hautzinger. “I think I have that someone with my great grand daughter, she’s only two, but you should hear that little girl sing.”
