Words and Melodies

Author: Mark Weller

In Loving Memory of My Mom: A Tribute

My Mom and the Family
Helen Weller was not only my mother; she was a good wife, citizen and friend to many. She was intelligent, caring, outspoken and hard working. Born in the early 20s, she was raised in a small town in northwestern New Jersey. She attended school and grew up there under the guidance of two very good people, my grandparents. Like my dad, she was raised during hard times in this country which continued well after she was grown and married.
She was the youngest of five children, but grew up carrying a lot of family responsibility. She met my father during the war through her brother who was buddies with my dad. After the war, my parents got married and eventually came back to California where my dad was from.
It was here in California that my parents began their life together and brought my siblings and me into the world. We were raised in the Santa Clara Valley of California, with my mom taking care of the home and my father working to support the family. My parents divorced when I was six, and from that point on, my mom became chief cook, bottle washer and financial support system.
She worked hard to raise us and harder to support us. There was little money, but we all had good lessons and mom even managed to take us to Santa Cruz many weekends during the summers. We all were taught respect, love, honesty and citizenship by this good woman.
More Family
As a child, I was always into something; I was precocious, animated, intelligent and bold. These were very similar to the characteristics of my mom and were shared by my sister and brother. All through these years, I associated with my dad; he was my friend, my idol and my mentor, but my mom was the one to teach me all the things he had shared with her.
As I grew older, I joined the service, enlisted in the USAF and was serving in the late Vietnam era. I constantly visited my dad and my mom from this point on, but was out building my life, saving lives and experiencing life in a huge variety of ways. I lived through the eras of protest, free love, racial inequality, women’s rights and a few others. I saw the world go from the old black box televisions to what we have now.
I am very much like my dad, but credit my mom for giving me the direction and sense to be that way. She was wise and always there for me all through her life and in the later years, the roles reversed and I was there with and for her.
Mom passed away early in the morning, March 1^st. 2010 in Santa Cruz, CA. with my sister, brother and I all there. I held her hand for the last hours and wetted her lips with drops of water. She could not see or talk, but knew we were there and squeezed my hand when I would talk to her.
Mom was not the church going type, but did believe in a god and heaven of some type. In the last minutes of her life, she squeezed my hand, then lifted it up, waved goodbye, pointed toward heaven and was gone.
I love you mom, I hold you in my heart and hear you talking to me at times.

November 24, 2024
Remembering My Father: Ted’s Legacy

Dad
Theodore Weller was a man, a father, a husband but mostly a fine man. Born in the early 20s, Ted was brought into this world by two very honest and respectable people. Those people being my grandparents of course. Those days were hard; there was not much money and a lot of hard work. My dad was the oldest of three children, and was a child during the days of President Theodore Roosevelt. His nickname was Teddy. His nickname was given because of a childhood photograph. In it, he wore a black suit with a top hat, much like the president wore. I think he was about 5 years old at this time.
Dad was raised in times when people respected each other and hard work was the norm. He and his two younger sisters lived on a chicken ranch that my grandfather managed in the Central Valley of California. It was a living, tough but a living. Then, when the great depression hit the country, my family lost the ranch and moved to a communal gold mining site near Sonora California. There were 5 families that lived, worked the mine, and grew their own foods and eked out a living on the mountainous land.
My father helped work the mine, raise his sisters and was home schooled until the years of High School. At that time he moved into Sonora with family friends, and attended the Sonora High School. As the world progressed and my father grew older, he joined the Army Air Corp and was stationed in many places around the world, serving his country and having a good time with his buddies. He met my mother by chance, because he was on leave with one of his Army buddies in New Jersey.
My Family
As the war ended and my father was returning to civilian life, he married my mother and brought her back to California. There my older Brother, sister and I were born. We were raised in the Santa Clara Valley, where life was slow and mostly consisted of ranches, farms and orchards. We all attended the same elementary school and played with the neighborhood kids. We had many good summer nights playing hide and seek and a variety of other games.
As a child, I was always into something; I was precocious, animated, intelligent and bold. All through these years, I associated with my dad; he was my friend, my idol and my mentor. We spent many hours in the garden, or fixing the fence or some other thing.
My parents divorced when I was about 6 years old, and to this day I remember the discussion when my parents sat us down and told us what was happening. I don’t think I was ever the same after that, but somehow I realized that both my parents loved me and that this was not something that was caused by me or my siblings. I lived with my mom for the balance of my elementary years, but moved to live with my dad for junior high school and high school.
As I grew older, I too joined the service. I enlisted in the USAF and was serving in the late Vietnam era. I constantly visited my dad and my mom from this point on, but was out building my life, saving lives and experiencing life in a huge variety of ways. I lived through the eras of protest, free love, racial inequality, women’s rights and a few others. I saw the world go from the old black box televisions to what we have now.
All through my life, I respected my father for his quiet intelligence and his ability to associate with just about anyone. He had a way of sharing his knowledge and experience that made others feel comfortable and part of the family.
I would play my guitar for him in the patio of his home talking and listening to his stories for hours at a time. He taught me so much, most of it I never realized till much later on. Dad taught me about honor, respect, love, true spirit and so much more.
My father passed away on July 18th, 2007 at 07:56 in the morning. It was the morning of my 51st birth day. I had spent the night before with him talking and sharing my thoughts. He could not really talk anymore, but he could hear me and would hold my hand and occasionally smile. I kissed his forehead and told him, “Dad, please go, it is time and I will be OK.”
He passed away that next morning quietly at home in his own bed at peace.
This man taught me so much, he shared without hesitation, and he was the most honorable, truest and most caring man I will ever know.
Dad, I love you….

November 23, 2024
A Journey Beyond: My Experience with God and Heaven

Preface: I was ill with the flu and had gone to bed weak and tired. The last thing I remember is laying in bed. This occurrence was in 1996 although I don’t remember the exact month or day. Bear in mind, the following occurred many years before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. And before I was baptized.
The next thing I knew, I was standing as if on a high mountain. I had a view of the entire earth’s history. What I saw can only be expressed in a very undetailed way. All that I saw and heard, was so much more than we can comprehend as humans. I will try to share what I saw and felt.
The sky was dark and foreboding as the clouds raced past at high speed, the sound was as a massive storm. The feeling was overbearing and almost like watching a movie in accelerated motion. I felt totally isolated from everything I had ever known. Time passed as centuries in minutes, peoples came into view and went out as quickly. Chariots passed by, wars were fought, mountains grew and diminished with a roar and a rush of winds. Ancient cities grew and then disappeared.
I stood there, watching as the history of the world from the beginning to the present passed by, the intense emotions, fears, pain, and pleasures all swirling through my being. I was separate from this, as a person watching a movie, and yet I was torn open by the rush of time as it passed through me.
The ages flew by, showing me the history of the world and bringing a portion of God’s knowledge to my mind. I understood all that had ever existed and all that ever would. It was like a review of the total history of man, and a view into the future all condensed into minutes. But time had no meaning here, this span of time covered the total history of the earth. I stood for what seemed to me as lifetimes. I was watching, listening, growing in awareness and realizing that I was being shown what only God could know.
After what seemed an eternity, everything slowed and began to lighten up. The swirling dark clouds gave way to a calm white light off in the distance. Gradually this white became a light so pure there is no description for it. It was not a light from a source, but a place, a total surrounding of pure love and peace.
I found myself standing in the midst of angels, hundreds of thousands of spirits that were all very pure and at peace. They were speaking with me, (not verbally but as if we could read minds) explaining what I had just seen. The vision I had been given was God’s knowledge regarding man. The pure, clear truth as it exists. They spoke of how living, as man was a gift that was designed to be a learning experience. A preparation for what was offered to us if we believe in Jesus.
I realized that this place was heaven. It was the spiritual home, the place we will go when the rapture happens, and in fact, not a place as we think of it, but the actual presence of God. I realized that God is everything, beyond time, before everything, and infinite.
I spent what seemed like another eternity there, speaking with the angels, learning the truth of who we are and what our purpose is. After many long conversations, the angels told me that I must return. It was not time for me to remain here. I had things to do on earth, and that these things were to be revealed at the appropriate times.
My wife at the time was frantic and in tears as I opened my eyes and began to realize where I was. I was lying in bed, the sheets and mattress were soaked in sweat, and I was cold and stiff. Slowly I gained awareness of my surroundings.
My wife told me she had come upstairs to check on me. She found me there in bed soaked in sweat, not breathing and my body was cold and pale. She thought she had lost me. As near as I can recollect, I estimate the earthly time I was away as 30-90 minutes. I shared this with my wife, but I did not speak of this for years for fear I would be thought “crazy”.
In 2014 I accepted Jesus as my Lord, and was baptized in the ocean off the California coast near Santa Cruz.
I know that I will spend the rest of my life reflecting on this truth, seeking to live the life that I have been given. I am not sure really what that entails, or how I will go about it, but I know that it will always be a part of me, and something I must do. I feel that God wishes me to share this truth with the world and somehow show humanity that this life is nothing but a speck in God’s scheme of things.
My prayer is that my story can bring more people to God. That through what God showed me, I can open the hearts and minds of many to Jesus. God is real, Jesus is real, Heaven is real, and we all have the opportunity to share in this glorious eternity.

November 20, 2024