A Brief Memoir of My Mother.
Saramma Verghese (Part II)
My mother's brothers were dead against to her faith and they were not willing to take care of the parents so she decided to stay unmarried to look after the parents. Meanwhile her younger sister got married; years gone by and the parents were getting old. After their death Saramma's life and safety became a question, so they convinced her to get married. Few years passed by and their firm faith in the Lord and the exemplary life they led in the Lord enabled her other family members too to follow the truth. Some of their children are in the service of the Lord.
Lord was faithful to His daughter and gave her a faithful partner. Mr. P T Varghese from Chengannur, who was a God fearing, humble, loving and well disciplined person. Evangelist K P Stephen of Thiruvankulam and his wife took initiative in this matter and they united in the holy matrimony.
At that time my father was working as a carpenter in the erstwhile Pampa River Sugar Factory (Now Travancore Sugars and Chemicals Ltd). My mother was a perfect wife to my father and a loving mother to all of us (we are seven children, five brothers and two sisters). My mother was an ideal wife and an excellent home maker like the woman in Proverb 31. She was a mature woman, devoted wife, mother, honorable, humble, unselfish and kind. She was a caring and loving mother not only to us but also to the neighbors, especially to the fellow believers. She was so keen to share her mite with others especially with the people those who are in the Lord's service. Even in spite of our tight financial budget she always makes it a point to set apart some amount for this purpose. Those days running a family of nine members is a great task. With my father's meager salary it was difficult to meet both ends. On my mother's initiative father bought a cow and started selling milk and manure to the neighboring people and earned a small income from that. At that time we were staying in the company's staff quarter. There was a high demand for our milk due to the purity of the milk. My mother was so strict that she never diluted the milk with water for sale. Apart from this my father used to work in the evening hours after his eight hours duty at the factory. He made different types of wooden furniture with good quality wood. This too was in high demand because of the carpentry skill and the reasonable prices. Due to this demand sometimes he was unable to finish the products in time, so we children too help papa in his carpentry works, like finishing polishing etc...
This was a routine job and with their sacrificial life all the children got educated and settled in different parts of the world. By the grace of God all the children are in the faith of my mother's God. She was an instrument in bringing up them in the fear of the Lord. She continued that steadfast faith till her departure from this earth. My mother paved an adorable way to follow. Her footprints were much appreciated and acceptable. We the children of this virtuous woman are much happy to follow her foot prints. Though, she was a silent doer of the Word of God we are sure that her reward in heaven will be much greater.
We thank God for being the children of this loving mother.
Her children: Rosamma John Secunderabad, P V Thomas Bangalore, Ammini Daniel U S A, P T John Chennai, Philip Verghese 'Ariel' Secunderabad, Paul Varghese Pulikeezhu, Shaji Varghese Palghat.
Sons and Daughters-in-law: John Philip Secunderabad, Glory Thomas Bangalore, M V Daniel U S A, Sally John Chennai, Annamma Philip Secunderabad, Nessy Paul Pulikeezhu, Annie Shaji Palghat.
(Note: For the early history of my mother I am indebted to her sister Mariamma's elder son Joykutty Chacko, an evangelist in Kothamangalam, Kerala)