In the Still of the Night Read Free Page A

good mothers have to. She was confident that they were independent and fully capable adults, able to take care of themselves.
    And they hadn't let her down; her daughter, Ronda, in her thirties, had been a Washington State Patrol trooper for almost a decade, for heaven's sake, responsible for the safety of others as well as herself. If she couldn't take care of herself, what woman could?
    Barb's son, Freeman, was ten years younger than Ronda. Barb was very young when Ronda was born, only nineteen, and it probably was just as well that she had only her daughter to raise then. It wasn't easy for Barb. Bringing up her children on her own much of the time was a challenge. Nevertheless, Barbara always put them first, and she usually worked two--or even three--jobs to support them.
    Although she and her mother, Virginia Ramsey, hadtangled often when she was a child and a teenager, it was Virginia who became Barb's strongest support. Virginia had been married for more than twenty years to the only man she had ever loved, bringing up three children on "less than a shoestring," when Barb's father deserted her for another woman. She was totally devastated.
    "Somehow," Barb recalled, "Ronda's birth gave her a reason to go on, and I sure did need her. She took care of Ronda--and, later, Freeman--while I worked as many jobs as I could, helped me raise my little girl. She never complained. My mom was always there--and Ronda cherished her grandmother."
    Although Ronda was born two months premature--with no fingernails, eyebrows, or lashes yet--she was a pretty, serene baby and she was easy to care for from the moment Barb took her home from the hospital in Southern California in September 1965.
    Barb married twice, and had romantic relationships from time to time, but the core of her family was her children--Ronda and Freeman--and her mother, Virginia. They saw each other through many hard times and always emerged together.
    Ronda loved horses as much as Barb did, but she had another dream for her life. Ever since she was about five, she had watched
Dragnet, Adam-12
, and
Mayberry R.F.D.
avidly. She decided then that she would be a law enforcement officer--a sheriff, maybe, or a detective. In fact, she wanted to grow up to be a Washington State Patrol trooper. At the time, that seemed unlikely; there were no female officers when Ronda was a little girl. There weren't even any short troopers. The image of the Washington State Patrol was one of tall men wearing blue-gray uniforms and wide-brimmed hats. (In many ways, it still is, and motoristsare surprised to be stopped by small women with soft voices.)
    Barb figured she would grow out of that, but Ronda never wavered. Although she was a very feminine little girl, she loved riding wildly on her horse, and was fascinated with police officers.
    Nothing daunted Ronda. She took on challenges all of her life, and as she grew up, she knew that women were beginning to take their place beside men in law enforcement. She never gave up on her plans to be a trooper, although she could not have imagined some of the problems her femininity would bring in a male world.
    The lovely girl from Eastern Washington wanted it all--as people tend to say about women who work and hope to have a family home life, too.
    Ronda wanted to marry one day and, especially, to have children.
    And she almost achieved it all. She shared many characteristics with her mother, but perhaps the strongest was that they were both stubborn and single-minded. Each of them had had to face more than most women could imagine, but they didn't give up on improbable or impossible goals, despite all the naysayers who warned them they couldn't win.
    Like all other mothers and daughters, they had some arguments when Ronda went through her teen years, but they loved each other devotedly. Ronda respected her mother and appreciated the sacrifices she had made, and the long hours she'd worked over the years.

    I T WAS WEDNESDAY
, December 16, 1998,