Carol Rae Bass is gone. At least she no longer physically fills the lives of all those she knew and affected so profoundly. Almost everyone, when speaking of a mother, will speak of her in superlatives. To broad brush my mother like that would be a mistake and disservice to the legacy she leaves behind. It is truly difficult to explain and describe how much in words she meant to those that were blessed to know her. She was an aunt, a sister, a mother, a grandmother and great grandmother and truly the matriarch of our extended family. Great people do things out of kindness with regularity and seek no notice for their deeds. That was my mother and the void she left behind is impossible to fill. As an Air Force family we travelled the world together and my mother was put in the position of raising and caring for the family. There is no way that my father could have achieved the things that he did without the strong woman that was my mother at the the helm of our family. My fathers duty to country simply kept him away too much. Strong, caring women with innate leadership capabilities were the hallmark of the Keene family and all of my mothers sisters were blessed with it. God could not have provided a better example of the "older sister" and she filled those shoes with grace. To me her legacy will be the shepherding of so many people through the difficult path that life sometimes puts before us. Especially the lives of her grand children and great grand children. Rest in peace Mom.
