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Molly made this collage for Willie Nelson, and would love to meet him and give it to him in Des Moines, on Tuesday.

www.desmoinesregister.com

If this column were a song I’d call it “The Ballad of Molly and Willie.”

Consider it a Mother’s Day meditation on Molly Bierma, 75, a mother figure at large to a diverse circle of friends from her serene, happy sanctuary of a home on the south side of Des Moines. She greets everybody with an eager smile and long mane of silvery gray hair — and a deck of 78 tarot cards.

More later on the tarot cards.

First, Mother’s Day.

Today arrives to the tune of a wistful Willie Nelson soundtrack for Bierma. The legendary and probably most humanitarian of country singers has been a consistent thread throughout Bierma’s life. She’ll be in the audience again Tuesday night when Willie, still on the road at 80, plays the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines.

The only time Bierma remembers seeing her late mother cry in the home they shared — a house hand-hewn in 1906 by Bierma’s Swedish immigrant grandfather — was in the middle of a Willie song that was part of a 1983 TV special on HBO.

Bierma’s father had recently died. Her mom, a stoic Swede named Thelma Wyckoff, didn’t let herself break down at his funeral. But she wept as Willie sang “Changing Skies.”

There are clouds in the sky
Clouds of fear and despair
But love like ours never dies
Changing skies, changing skies

Gentle tears trickled down Wyckoff’s cheeks.

Bierma has analyzed Willie’s astrological chart for years and says that it highlights his duty, responsibility, obligation. He’s an “Aquarian ascendant,” part of that “brotherhood of man thing”; no wonder he unifies the long-haired hippies, biker guys and traditional farmers.

“I just admire that energy,” she said of Willie. “And not feeling sorry for himself. And taking responsibility. And just the continuance of being 80 and doing what he does.”

Bierma’s latest obsession has been to create 2-foot-by-18-inch collages on canvas. She’s an artist by talent and trade and worked for years on commercial jobs where she crafted direct mail ads and restaurant menus. She scours her daily Register with a pair of scissors for words and images to add to her artwork.

Her latest collage is dedicated to Willie and seems to touch on nearly every facet of his career. She can give it to him should they meet Tuesday.

The sole item on Bierma’s bucket list these days is meeting Willie.

Read entire article here.