Mary Spaniol: 'She's awesome'
Thirteen-year-old Mary Spaniol of Wellington said that she is the youngest of 11 children, and loves being around her mother.
"She's my role model," Mary said. "I want to be a chef, and she's a chef, so she's taught me a lot in the kitchen, but she has also taught me to respect others. She's awesome."
Carson Drews: 'Always there'
The 28-year-old Reno man said his mother offered the perfect balance in his life.
"I'm the oldest of four, and she raised us to respect women, first of all," Carson said. "She was also tough on us for the right reasons, but she was also compassionate when you needed comforting. She was always there when you needed her, regardless of what else was going on."
Terri Shufelt: 'Always helping someone'
Terri's mother passed away when she was only 10 years old, and the memory of her is almost as tender today as it was 40 years ago.
"I was the oldest of five," Terri said, wiping tears from her eyes, "and the thing I remember most was that she always had kids over to our house, she was always helping someone. She baked, she cooked, she cleaned, she was just always doing service for people."
Sara Bingham: 'Don't wish it away'
For Carson City's Sara Bingham, mother of a baby girl and toddler boy, one of the things that her mother has impressed on her is to value the growing-up years of her children.
"My mom had seven kids and she always wondered where the time went," Sara said. "She always tells me to enjoy all those little moments with my children. Sometimes when I'm stressed and call her to vent because I've had to get up in the middle of the night or a roll of toilet paper has been unrolled, she just says, 'Don't wish it away, because all of a sudden, it's not there anymore.'"
