In Cliff Sakry’s original manuscript he had a note to himself: ”ADD FAMILY HISTORY (MY MOTHER, MONICA THOMALLA SAKRY)”
Unfortunately Cliff died before having an opportunity to complete that
”Thomalla Family History.” He did however leave us with the following little gems, describing Monica Thomalla Sakry (1885-1964), wife of Paul Edward Sakry (1882-1943), and mother to five children; Clifford Raymond
(1914-1988), Maynard Samuel (1917-1998), Alvin Michael (1919- ), Aurelia ”Peggy” (Sakry) Fallon (1920- ), and MaryAnn Lorraine (Sakry) Arner (1923- ).
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My sister MaryAnn
described our mother as, ”A fun-loving, all-around good mother. She took us kids places with her, always explained things to us ... a typical good old-fashioned mother like most kids would want. She was kindly and
considerate, would draw for me and encourage me in art and music. I could always sit down and talk to her. She was always there. Both she and our father were great on family
... always stuck together. They took us kids with them wherever they went to socialize ... visits, church affairs, dances, weddings, picnics, funerals, baptisms, you name it. They taught us kids all to sing, dance, play piano, swim, fish, enjoy nature. Our Ma was always nice.You could never sass
her. She was a person you could always get along with. She used to say, ‘If you tell your dream before breakfast, it will come true.’ We made a pact that whoever died first would come back and let the
other know if they were in a good place.”
MaryAnn also recalled how our parents never passed up a chance to ”have a little fun.” ”Pa always had a musical session going. Ma would play the
fiddle, Cliff would chord on the piano, and Pa would lead the singing along with some fancy tap-dancing, especially the Polish jig. MaryAnn recalled how our father's ”customers” used to give her and brother Cliff
quarter tips for playing and chording the piano so they could sing.
Out at Uncle Doc's place, ”the island,” near Richmond, where our family often visited, we all did a lot of fishing ... and, of
course, our mother loved these sports and was very good at them. She was an excellent swimmer, and not only could she catch fish, but she could cook them to a gourmet’s perfection. Monica was also blessed with
great hunting skills. She was a great shot with a double-barreled (16-gauge) shotgun!
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Note: The following footnote on the life of Monica Thomalla Sakry, written by Cliff Sakry, appeared on page 206 of the November, 1974 edition of Reader’s Digest. Though brief, the story captured her
musical, warm spirit, her love of nature, and stands as a wonderful tribute to her life:
Band Leader. When I was a boy, one of the pleasant sounds in our house was the chirping of
crickets. From the recesses of the cellar would come their soothing rhythms every night during autumn and into early winter, lulling us to sleep. I often wondered at the absolute certainty of their nightly concerts.
Then one day I encountered my mother creeping furtively down the cellar stairs with her hands cupped together. Like a child caught stealing cookies, she smiled foolishly, and tried to edge past me. But I had her
cornered and she knew it. Assuming a grand air, she opened her hands and released several big black crickets, procured from her garden, into a crack behind a shelf of preserves.
”Don’t you tell a soul,” she whispered confidentially. ”After all, you can’t have the music without the musicians!”
