Boggis: To honor Ona Marie Judge Stains, use her proper name
JerriAnne Boggis
Attached to each of our names is a unique and personal history. These days, I can tell the state of my mother’s mind by the name she calls me. When she says my full “government” name “JerriAnne Elizabeth Creary,” the rote formality tells me she does not remember who I am. When she calls me “JerriAnne,” I know the fog of dementia has lifted briefly and I glimpse the mother I know. But when she looks at me and says “Jer” my heart melts. I’m both a child yearning for her mother and an adult filled with nostalgia.