Adeline J. Briscoe's Obituary
Adeline Johns Briscoe (Addie) was one of 6 daughters born to Bert Johns of Montana and Louise Joseph Johns of Lebanese decent. Her childhood was filled with sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Her large Lebanese family all lived close by; they cooked, laughed, and cried together. They kept their family heritage, traditions, and recipes alive. Her family lived in Missoula Montana during the depression, her dad; Bert was in masonry working with concrete as a finisher and Louise, her Mom, stayed home raising her 6 girls.Addie met Ernie in Missoula, Montana in 1948. Ernie had a photography studio there and used a black and white film development lab housed under the Wilma Theatre where Addie and her cousins worked. Mom tells the story of how when she met Ernie she told the girls “he’s mine”. She asked him to the movies for their first date; he was too shy to make the first move. After a few years of life in Missoula, marriage and newborn daughter, Cynthia, they moved to San Diego where Ernie’s sister Ruby was living with her husband and daughter Beth. Ernie gave up the photography studio and traded it for a steady job at General Dynamics Convair.Every summer the family would spend a few weeks with Addie’s family in Missoula. Everyone was received with open arms, love, welcome, and felt like they were visiting a different country. The Lebanese language, food and music was a big part of those visits, and lots of cousins. Those early bonds are still strong today in the next generation. The family tries to hold on to the traditions, but as the passing of each generation we loose all but the memories.Within a few years of living in Pacific Beach Addie and Ernie moved their small family from a frame house purchased from military housing, to property in Poway. That was in 1954. Their third daughter Barbara was born in 1956 that made 3. The house is still here today and is where Addie peacefully passed away on February 21st 2016, from advanced dementia complications. She was a homemaker in the best sense of the word. The transition from being around a large family to living away from her large family, and raising 3 daughters in the country with snakes, tarantulas, rocks and dirt roads from the city neighborhoods wasn’t easy. But she adapted, made lifelong friends and learned to love Poway. Addie worked at the school in the cafeteria, which her kids thought was really cool since they got to see her during the day. She was brave enough to apply for a job at the new NCR plant and was proud to be a working woman.Ernie died in 2006. 56 years of marriage left Addie unprepared for life without her Ernie. She survived without him for 9+ years. There wasn’t a day or a moment in the first few years after his death she didn’t think, ask and cry for him. As her daughters, this was hard to witness. In time her dementia gave her some relief from the loneliness of life without Ernie into a new from of loneliness, life without her memories. With out knowing who she was, or eventually not able to care for herself. It takes it’s toll, but I believe life has a purpose, and it’s not for how much we accomplish, or how successful we are, rather as Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”Mom was able to be a blessing in her latter years for everyone that came into contact with her. Her caregivers fell in love with her; she showed us how to maintain dignity even through her loss of self-care. She continued to counsel, advise, and make others laugh. As we cared for her, she was caring for us.Adeline Johns Briscoe will be missed and remembered with loving thoughts by all of her kids, (3) grandkids (6), and great grand kids (3).Dad and her have been supporting the St Josephs Indian School, for Lakota (Sioux) children, which is close to where the Briscoe family grew up. To donate in their name the address is PO Box 300 Chamberlain, SD 57325
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