Sentence:  He was also at the same time gaining practical experience as a safe breaker and highwayman , and learning how to shoot to kill from a Neanderthal convicted murderer named Gene Geary , later committed to Chester Asylum as a homicidal maniac , but whose eyes misted with tears when the young Dion sang a ballad about an Irish <WSD>mother</WSD> in his clear and syrupy tenor . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)