My Mother's Treasures

My dear mother Nora Reilly West never had a lot of material possessions, but she always treasured her family and friends!  For as long as I can remember, she had boxes secreted in her lingerie drawer which contained pieces of jewelry that were given to her throughout the years. I always got so excited when she would go into her boxes on occasion to show me her jewelry!  Sadly, she left us all and her worldly possessions behind when she died on August 24, 2008.  Here is my mother in her high school senior portrait:

Nora Reilly West - St. Mary's Academy Senior Portrait

My sister Katie left a message for me on Friday, April 20th to say that I would be receiving a box on Saturday at my house.  She wouldn't tell me what was in the box, but asked me to read the letter that she had included first before opening it.  True to her word, the box arrived on Saturday afternoon and I read her letter first before opening it.  The box had several boxes within it containing most of my mother's jewelry collection!  I couldn't believe it!

Mom's jewelry collection doesn't contain hugely expensive pieces.  She did have a 1 carat diamond engagement ring that she wanted to leave to me, but towards the end of her days, somebody at the hospital helped themselves to it.  It was a shame that it was stolen!  We shouldn't have let her keep it on her finger in a place like that, but none of us would have had the heart to ask her to take her engagement ring off!  It would have broken her heart!

Mom's collection contains several pieces that have a great deal of sentimental value.  I'm going to include pictures here for anybody who would like to see and hear about these pieces.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the first item from the Nora Reilly West Collection on display is a gold necklace and earring set that my father gave to Mom when she was a teenager.  Each item in the set is shaped to resemble what looks like a sunflower.  The necklace is engraved with the name "Noreen", which was a nickname that my father had for Mom back when she was young.  The earrings are of the clip-on variety and engraved with "N. R."  which was her initials. I never saw her wear this jewelry.

The "Noreen" Set

The 2rd item is a vintage bracelet with shield charms representing what was once the 9 provinces of Canada back in the early 1900s. From left to right, the shields represent British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Newfoundland.  I don't know who gave Mom this bracelet and I never saw her wear it.

Canadian Shield Charm Bracelet

Number 3 on the docket is a bracelet that Mom's best friend Joanie McDonald gave to her on May 23rd, 1953.  It has Mom's initials engraved on the heart in the front and the date 5-23-1953 and JMW engraved on the back.  Mom never said what was so special about May 23, 1953 or the reason why Joanie gave her this bracelet. I am surmising that Joanie got married on this date and I believe that Mom was her Maid of Honor at her wedding.  Therefore, this bracelet could have been Joanie's "Bride's Gift" to Mom as her Maid of Honor.

Heart Bracelet from Joanie McDonald

The next item on display is an engraved medal that my father gave to Mom on December 8, 1958, which was their 2nd Wedding Anniversary.  The front of the medal is engraved with "To the Angel  I  Married - Nora M. West - for 2 Years of Happiness". 

2nd Wedding Anniversary Medal from Dad (Front)

The back of the medal is engraved with their 2nd Wedding Anniversary date of 12-8-58.  I have to be honest, I really get a kick out of this piece!  I've never heard of anyone giving their wife a medal for being married for 2 years!  December 8th is also the day after Pearl Harbor Day and Jim Morrison's (the dearly departed lead singer of the Doors) birthday which makes it even more amusing!  I'm sure that Mom was happy to get it though, although I never saw her wear it.

2nd Wedding Anniversary Medal from Dad (Back)

Item number 5 on display is an oval stone bracelet with blue, gold, red and green stones and filigreed silver around each stone.  There were earrings to match and they had blue stones, but I don't know what happened to them. Whenever Mom got dressed up to go somewhere (which wasn't very often), she often wore this necklace and earrings.

The Oval Stone Filigreed Bracelet

The next item is a silver pin shaped like a bunch of flowers with varying shades of purple gem stones in the flower buds.  The pin had clip-on earrings to match, but there is only one left in the collection. Mom loved lavender and wore this pin often.  I remember the first time that she wore it.  She had attended Weight Watchers and lost a good bit of weight, so she bought a new lavender dress and got her hair frosted and styled to attend a church event.  Well, there was this old lady named Mrs. C.D. O'Connell that went to our church and was friends with Mom.  Us kids used to call her "The Critical Eye" because she never missed seeing anything, despite the fact that she wore spectacles with lenses that resembled a coke bottle.  Anyway, Mrs. O'Connell took one look at Mom's freshly frosted hair and said "What have you done to your beautiful hair?"  Poor Mom felt so bad that she cried!  Shame on Mrs. C.D. O'Connell for ruining Mom's fashionable evening at church!

The Purple Gemstone Flower Pin

I was always captivated with this next piece, which is a pearl "pop-it" necklace.  Each pearl on the necklace is a "pop-it" which pops apart from all of the others.  All of the pearls snap together to make the necklace.  It's such a cool necklace, but it will need some type of resurfacing as it has turned yellow with age.  I've never seen anything quite like it anywhere and don't know where Mom got it.

The Pearl "Pop-it" Necklace

"Pop-It" Section

The next item is Mom's gemstone flamingo pin.  I gave this to her for Christmas in 1988.  I paid $75 for it at Macy's, which was a fortune back then!  I was so excited to see her open it, and when she did, her whole face fell.  I felt so bad that she was disappointed with her Christmas present!  However, not all was lost!  She ended up falling for the flamingo's colorful charm and wore it all of the time!

The Flamingo Pin

For me, this next piece has a lot of sentimental value.  It's a gold pin shaped like a bow with a circular portrait of my son Justin Lee in a sailor suit hanging from it..  This portrait was taken at J.C. Penney's at the Security Mall in Woodlawn, MD and was from the first set of pictures that I ever had taken of him.  The poor girl taking the pictures nearly stood on her head to make him smile!  She really earned her pay that day! 

The "Justin Lee" Pin

The next item is an oval necklace containing my graduation photo from Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.  The covering on it has turned an amber color with age and it makes my blonde hair look red!  It's not one of my most favorite pictures of myself, but it really meant a lot to Mom.  She was always so  proud of all of her childrens' accomplishments!

Mae's Basic Training Graduation Photo Necklace

This is Mom's Angel Stone, which is very similar to the one that I carry with me all of the time.  My daughter Nicole gave me my stone during one of the hardest times of my life and it helped me to get through it.  I imagined angels surrounding me to protect me from harm. Not too long ago, I gave one of these stones to somebody who I thought was very special.  I hope that it helps her to get through life's tough times as well.

Mom's Angel Stone

And last, but not least is the most interesting piece in the whole collection!  It is a hexagon shaped gold locket with intricately engraved designs. The front of the locket is engraved with the cursive initials "ER".

Front of Locket

The locket opens and there is a picture of  my maternal grandmother Minnie Harte Reilly inside.  The Maker's Mark, C & QA in a triangle, is engraved inside as well.  I have scoured the internet looking for it, but have been unable to find out anything on the Maker.

Open Locket with Minnie Harte Reilly's Picture

The back of the locket is engraved with a six sided star (hexagram) with 3 small jewels at each of the six points, 6 jewels in a circle around the center and a jewel in the middle.

Back of Locket

We're not sure who gave this locket to my mother, but believe that it was a family member on her mother's side of the family.  I believe that the R in the initials "ER" stands for Reilly, but I'm not sure.  We don't know much about my maternal grandmother as she died when Mom was only 2 years old.  I'm hoping that maybe this locket will end up clearing up some of this mystery.

So for those of you who cared to read this post and look at the pictures of Mom's treasures, thank you very much for your interest and I hope that you enjoyed the post!