Miss You Maxine

Last week we attended the funeral of Wayne's Mother, Maxine Furnas Browning Martin in Muscatine, Iowa. She would have been 90 in December. While we already miss her, she passed away in her home, did not have any disabling diseases, and was mentally sharp. She passed away as she was getting dressed on the morning of Sunday, July 10. If we have to go, that would be my choice too.

Maxine leaves behind her husband, Buster Martin, one son - Wayne Browning, and her daughter - Kathi Beverlin, two granddaughters - Cherdyl and Chrystal, and one great-granddaughter, Jamie. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Carl Browning, and son James Browning.

She loved flowers and we often sent her bouquets of live flowers to enjoy. Maxine was well-known for making some of the best cinnamon rolls and pies around. There were always fresh cinnamon rolls waiting when we visited her. Usually our fall visits included a visit to our favorite orchard near Morning Sun, IA, to buy bushels of apples. She believed that an apple, or two, did keep the doctor away. Her apple dumplings were yummy!

My favorite memory of Maxine is the time she and I spent together making candy for the holidays. We would each buy 10 pounds of sugar and we made candy until the sugar was all gone. We made several kinds of fudge - the old-fashioned cooked cocoa kind, white chocolate fudge will lots of nuts in it, and peanut butter fudge. Of course there were several flavors of divinity - her two syrup recipe is still the best one, peanut brittle, date rolls, and whatever new kind we wanted to try. Our family and friends enjoyed lots of holiday candy from our weekend of candy making.

Peace!