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February 19, 2006
On February 18th 1952...
My mom was born.
The youngest of three, Delores McDonald, born to Robert and Helen McDonald, spent her childhood in Independence, MO, where she grew up next door to famed mass murderer/cult leader Jeff Lundgren, although that's not really her claim to fame (which would be giving birth to me, ha ha).
She got into the banking industry as soon as she was able to work, and has been in since, becoming one of the most respected and knowledgeable bankers in the Kansas City area. She has worked for a number of institutions, even at one time the now-infamous Home Savings, although she had nothing to do with that whole destroying the entire Savings and Loan industry. She did handle the White Water documents while working there, though, which led to an interesting time of us being tailed and tapped by the FBI.
In the 1970's she married Gerald Schamberger, who later left her in 1980, but not before getting her knocked up with yours truly. She then spent the next eighteen years selflessly devoted to raising me and giving me the best childhood that any brat could hope for. Those eighteen years were probably the hardest that she ever faced, but I like to think that they really paid off.
In 1996 she met Roger Clark through a personal ad she'd placed in the Kansas City Star, and in a whirlwind romance married him about a year later. In Roger she finally found the perfect mate, match, companion, husband, and friend. They have the most sickly sweet marriage I've seen outside of 1950's sitcoms, doing all sorts of cute things together. Things like running antique trains in Baldwin, KS or forming a country band together, or just staying home to watch sappy romance movies while petting their geriatric cats and Pomeranian named Banjo (who I named, by the way), surrounded by her dozens of exotic plants.
Mom's impacted just about every life she's run into, and I don't know how many of my friends have said the words, "Rob, your mom's just...cool."
Delores Clark: Banker, Musician, Friend, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Train Conductor, Mother.
The world's a better place for having you.
Posted by Schamberger at February 19, 2006 12:37 PM