The Reason for the Last Post

Mildred A. Savage (nee Asher) age 81 of Carneys Point died Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at her home.

Born in Pedricktown she was the daughter of the late James D., Sr. and Eithel Asher.

Mrs. Savage was predeceased by her husband, Harry L. Savage, Jr. in 1970 and three brothers and five sisters.

Surviving is her daughter, Laura of Carneys Point, brother Forrest Ebb Asher and his wife Bettie, brother William C. Asher and his wife Edna, sister Lillian A. "Kitty" Gessner and her husband Dick, sister Kathryn Youker and her husband Nathaniel "Doc", sister Emma Huber "Sugar" and her husband Bill and many, many nieces and nephews.

A graveside service will be held 9 AM Saturday at the First Baptist Church Cemetery, S. Main St., Woodstown. There will be no viewing.

For those of you who don't do Facebook here were my comments from today.

So it was 1973 and I was about as myopic as they come. I had just turned seventeen and it was time to get my learner’s permit. My father had taken me to DMV in Salem and much to his surprise and mine I qualified visually to get a temporary license. Funny thing is that most people with nystagmus don’t ever get a license. (And that is probably a good thing).

Well the allotted time went past and I went back to center to take the road test. My skill set was very shaky. I mean I got through most of the test barely okay and then at the end came the parallel parking part. As I worked through the road evaluation I was driving a Ford LTD which if you don’t remember is a big butt boat. To pass the test you were allowed no more than two demerits or whatever the negative marks on the road test sheet were called. From best I could tell I had gotten to the parking with no real negative marks. There might have been some neutrals or averages, well probably a good number of them but there were no negatives yet.

No matter how much I tried in practice in the weeks leading up to the road test I was never able to parallel park. I kind of thought what would happen was that I would just take the hit on the parking and get the lecture and then skate away license in hand.

Well at the appointed moment came for me to park I backed up and there is no easy way to say, my car crushed the cone. The analyst rating my skills said in a stern tone “You hit a cone, stop!” Me (in a faux ‘who me’ voice): “What cone?” Him: “Two demerits, one for the parallel parking and one for INATTENTION”. Oh well. He gave me the 'you failed' sheet and I was on my way, head down and in full mope.

I was crushed. I wasn’t sure how or if I would ever pass the driving test. However this is where my Aunt Mildred came in. When she heard my tale of woe she very calmly said “The problem is you are using too big a car for the test, you need to be using my Maverick”. Mildred had a pale blue Maverick that was way smaller than the LTD.

Each night for a couple of weeks we would go out to the parking lot behind the First Baptist Church in P-City. Once there under my very calm and patient Aunt’s tutelage I would work on my parking using the painted lined parking spaces there as templates for parked vehicles.

Aunt Mildred was not just patient she was very patient with me and very affirming despite my numerous destructions of imaginary cars. She never got mad; she just would say things like “You know what, you’ll get it right next time, that’s just the way you have to think”. It took time but eventually I really did get the hang of it.

When I took the test the next time I passed. In fact when I got to the parallel parking I wasn’t even freaked out about it. Parking was never something I ever worried about over all the years that I did keep driving.

What I am trying to say is that my Aunt Mildred had a very big heart at least toward me. She had a nice smile, a twinkle in her eye and a mischievous laugh. She died on Wednesday night and she will be missed.