ROCK ISLAND — As Mother’s Day approaches, Patti Stimpson remembers the years she was not allowed to leave bed before her son, Adam, and daughter, Katie, served her the special breakfasts they had made with their very own hands.

In two weeks, she will sit in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria and watch as her son, now Deacon Adam Stimpson, is ordained for a life of service to the people of God.

“We’re just so proud,” Patti told The Catholic Post. “We’re just so happy — we couldn’t be happier. I just hope he’ll be able to help people.”

Deacon Stimpson said that many of the gifts he has been able to offer the people he serves and will continue to serve can be traced to the example of his mother.

“What she’s given me is perseverance and encouragement,” he said in a telephone interview from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, where he is completing his studies for the priesthood. He will be ordained by Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, on May 23 at 10:30 a.m.

“She’s always been really patient with me — patient with everyone she meets,” Deacon Stimpson said. “She’s tried to instill those virtues in me.”

That patience also shows itself in his mother’s ability to withhold judgment, he explained.

“She’s not quick to react. She definitely takes her time to judge a situation properly and react to it,” he said. “That’s one of my greatest personal strengths and I know it came directly from her.”

That helped him as a teacher at a Catholic high school in Yuma, Ariz., before he entered the seminary and will continue to benefit him as he counsels people in confession, Deacon Stimpson said.

“A mother came in and was in tears about her son, who was doing badly in school,” he recalled. “I just listened to her and encouraged her. I didn’t get down on her son, who was my student.”

Afterward she told him how helpful and healing his calm, listening demeanor had been.

“I’ve had that experience in a number of situations,” Deacon Stimpson said. “That’s my mom, I think.”