Saying Goodbye to America's Mom: Barbara Billingsley

Anyone that visits Mommy Rantings knows that I admit that I'm not the perfect mother...However, the name "June Cleaver" and "perfect mother" seemed synonymous to anyone that watched (or was even fairly familiar with) Leave It To Beaver.

http://www.nndb.com/people/931/000022865/

Saturday morning, we said goodbye to the woman behind the perfect mother role, Barbara Billingsley, who died at the age of 94, after what People magazine states was a "long illness" (and with further investigation, I found out that it was a rheumatoid disease).  In her Santa Monica, California home, she found peace.

She left behind an amazing legacy...along with photos of her "playing" June Cleaver, that will probably forever strike our minds as the perfect mom. Cooking in the kitchen, always looking impeccable, and seeming so well-put-together.

I get a kick out of imagining what kind of a mother she would have been with six kids. Can you even fathom it? June Cleaver would have been the half-way sane mom...the barely hanging on mom...she would have been spinning around in circles in the kitchen and that hair...well, let's just say that it wouldn't have been so picture perfect all of the time.

Anyways, back to Barbara Billingsley...

Jerry Mathers, AKA the Beaver, was quoted, "Barbara was a patient advisor and teacher. She helped me along this challenging journey through life by showing me the importance of manners and respect for others. She will be missed by all of her family, friends, fans and, most especially, by me."


Tony Dow, AKA Wally (Beaver's older brother), told CNN, "She was as happy as a lark being recognized as America's mom. She had a terrific life and had a wonderful impact on everybody she knew, and even people she didn't know."

She left her mark on the world and lived a long and prosperous life. Her photos will ring out "perfect mother" for decades to come...

December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010 

Rest in peace, Barbara Billingsley...you'll always be known as "America's Mom".