Mom is gone. I only have memories, now. When I die, they will be gone, and those paintings will be another addition to a museum collection, and nothing more. Children who hate art field trips will stand in front of them and want to go outside to play kickball. Nobody will understand, and nobody will care, and the museum curators will appreciate them for their historical value and their monetary value, but they will not KNOW.
Alan, I am truly sorry for your grief and hurt at this time, but I must take exception at the last sentence in the paragraph above. There are many of us in the museum/historical field who do care about these artifacts, as well as the people they represent. Everytime I work at the Battlefield, I am surrounded by artifacts that represent a soldier "known but to God" -- I am their guardian, their "voice" to the many whom they fought and died for -- and I take that responsibility very seriously. No, I am not related to them by blood, but that doesn't mean I do not value not only their historical meaning, but the people behind them -- real people, ordinary people who did extraordinary things in extraordinary times.

Everyday I walk past a uniform of a Federal officer in an Indiana Volunteer regiment who was killed in one of the Battles of the Atlanta Campaign in 1864. Two of my great-great grandfathers fought in that campaign, one of them an officer. I do not have a photo of my g-g-grandfather in uniform -- but when I look at that uniform, I can relate. I have held these artifacts in my hands (with cotton gloves, obviously) and tried to comprehend the sacrifices these men made, what their lives were like, and most of all, why they fought and in some cases, died.

So please do not assume we do not "care". Many of us wouldn't be in the field if we didn't "care". I did not serve my nation in the armed forces, but I do so serve my nation, and those men, as a ranger and a historian by trying to make sure their voice is still heard.

Todd