05/10/2024
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE WONDERFUL MOMS OUT THERE!!
This is a tribute to my mom for Mother’s Day 2024, 28 years after her passing. She was raised in Germany in the middle of WWII. She lost family and friends and didn’t have a childhood. My mother spoke no English when she came to America and as a young boy, I remember her fighting to place an order at the butcher or baker, but she was going to.
She worked in the back of a dry cleaner where it was often over 100 degrees. My mom used sports to teach her how to read. She would watch the Tigers and then try to read the sports page the next day and give me the box scores over my cereal. Sieglinde would go on to be an entrepreneur and employer. She took many bumps along the road but you would never know it as she was always singing. My mom always drew a crowd with her broken English, her bright blue eyes and killer charm. When Comerica Park was built, the opportunity to get this paver came and I jumped on it. I take so much pleasure every time I go to the ball park visiting my mom, a great American and my great mom. I can hear it now “We beat the Yankees last night; Norm Cash got a home run.”
My mom lost her battle with ovarian cancer in 1996 and in her style, she blazed trails there, having a bone marrow transplant in its research stage. I am who I am today mostly because of her. If you go to a Tiger game stop and say Hi, she would love to meet you.
-Michael J. Pesendorfer
