Reflections on my mother-in-law, Brenda Bassham.
As an in-law, married to her daughter Diane, I spent a small amount of time with Brenda relative to the span of her life. But in that short while I discovered a person I would come to admire.
I enjoyed being around her. I enjoyed listening to Brenda’s stories about growing up in Britain, and what her life was like in Hull. I could tell she was very proud of British norms and culture.
When she was happy I would hear her singing many of the American classic show tunes.
As a mother and a wife, she was someone who treated the institute of family with the utmost respect. She was full of a mother’s wisdom. She valued an education and made sure all of her children could read before they ever stepped foot onto a school yard. She was proud of her children, listing their accomplishments to me. As a mother, I could tell she was caring but stern, providing a rules based structure that she followed through with. And yes, like most parents, every once in a while she would contemplate a life free from the constraints of family, one where she could have gone and accomplished the things that she wanted to do personally, but she knew the cards that had been dealt to her, that of a mother and wife, and she accomplished those roles with pride and confidence.
I can only tell you how I saw Brenda, which is through the lens of someone looking from the outside in. I am an in-law, and an American, unfortunately unable to spend lots of time with her given the distance between us, but my time with her, I did cherish.
My wife, Diane, is the kindest person I know. She is my spiritual guide. She’s intelligent and filled with an over abundance of common sense. All things she received from Brenda through nature and nurture. Thank you Brenda for raising such a beautiful human being. Diane, Robert, Judith and Luke are all the reflection of Gods light shined from you. You will be missed.
With Love, your son-in-law, Darin.
Darin Sanders
05/09/2025
