My Mother the Retired Woman!

On the weekend of March 23rd Derek and left Az to a much colder California!  We got there very late Thursday evening and of course Morgan was still awake to greet us at 11pm. We got up Friday morning and had lots of running around to do before my mom's big retirement party. That evening all of our family met at the University of Antelope Valley and for my mom's retirement party. My mom retired with 3 deputies so it was a pretty big ordeal. The had someone toast each person and then everyone received  their awards. It was a wonderful evening. It was also wonderful because I was able to see so many people that I had know from my childhood!

So a little about my mom and her hard work and dedication.....

My mom is Ilene Rose Neeley-Anderson. She was raised in Valencia, California where she attended Hart High School in her youth. She was born and raised in the Latter Day Saint Church. I am not sure if it is because she grew up in a home where money was tight or what, but my mother has always had a strong desire to work hard and help others. My mom started her time with the Sheriff's Department as a clerk of some kind. She then advanced to a LET position where she worked in evidence. I remember spending many hours in the evidence garage at the old Lancaster Sheriff Station on Ave J and 10th St West. My mom wore a blue uniform and would bag, check, and release evidence. I kind of loved that place as a kid. I feel like I spent quite a bit of time there. My mom later received a different position. Her position was the Sex offender registrant. Every year around their birthday sex offenders have to come in and report to someone and for the Lancaster area that was my mom! This change in position took place when I was in Jr. High and it opened my eyes to a whole world that I had never seen. For example my mom had a talk with my brother and I about the guy that wears all black and walks through the desert when all of us kids were walking home from school. She told us that was or neighbor and he was not a good man. She told us to stay away from him and to be sure to tell her if he talks to any of us kids. He never did, but he would watch us walk home all the time. As time when on the more and more people we knew the more and more sex offenders we knew. My mom is an amazing woman. She sits and talks with sex offenders ever day and yet comes home and tells us how wonderful some of them are and how they just made mistakes along time ago. She told me one day about a man who was 70 yrs old who committed his crime when he was 20 and had never re-offended and she just felt bad for him having to come in and report to her. But of course the law is there for a reason. A few years after high school two teenage girls were kidnapped off of Quartz Hill Mountain.  My mom was called in right away. She was there profiling looking through all of her guys and them she received a call. My mom had helped out a wife of a sex offender before and this woman called my mom and said she thought it was her husband. They were able to find the girls and rescue them. I know it wasn't huge part because of my mom, but I know she had worked very hard looking for the one person it could be! The week my mom was due to retire the Antelope Valley Press wrote an article on her and the work she had done. After reading it I was so impressed with my mom and the work she had done. Growing up in the LDS church there are many who feel a stay at home mom is the the only way to be raised, but I am so grateful that my mom worked! I am grateful for everything she taught me about being a hard worker. I am also grateful for how spoiled my brother and I were. Everything we ever wanted to do we were able to and I feel like that had a lot to do with my family having a second income! I love my mom and appreciate all of the dedication and hard work that she put in for years at the Sheriff Station! She is an amazing woman!