Happy Groundhog Day Everyone!
If my paternal Grandmother was still alive she'd be 112 years old today.
Here she is with my oldest brother when he was a couple weeks old in December of 1951. This is one of the oldest photos of have a her and she is 42 year old in it.
I sure wish I had some photos of her when she was younger. She must have been a "looker" then to have attracted her first husband, my paternal Grandfather.
Born in Cambridge Massachusetts to Irish immigrants, she survived the Spanish flu Pandemic as a child, World War I, was a flapper in the 1920's outside of Boston and then in Manhattan, married for the first time in 1928(and she didn't invite her own father to the wedding), had my father in 1931, then my only aunt in 1934.
Her husband went out for a pack of cigarettes in 1941 and never returned leaving her destitute with a 10 year old and a 6 year old to support and raise in Brooklyn, NY.
She moved to Norfolk Virginia in the late 1940s after World War II, found a new husband and married him in North Carolina in 1949 at 40 years old. He was 7 years older than her and worked for a tug boat company in Norfolk. My Step Grandfather Dave, died of a heart attack on board a ship waiting to pass through the Suez Canal in 1966 after 17 years of marriage, leaving Granny a widow at the age of 57.
Christmas in 1962 with Granny at our house in Norfolk,
Granny soldiered on, selling their brick home in Virginia Beach and moving across the street from my family and then into a duplex down the street from us at the end of the street in the Portlock section of South Norfolk(now Chesapeake), VA.
Granny eventually moved back to Massachusetts to be near her daughter(my Aunt)and my Aunt's children, 2 of whom were younger than me and my older brothers. She got a job working for Wang Laboratories one of the early computer labs, making word processor parts in Tewksbury MA. We didn't see her often after she moved, only for special occasions like when my brother's graduated from High School. The last time I saw Granny was in 1979 when I worked in Summer Stock in Maine, my Aunt picked me up at a bus station in Boston and took me to her apartment for a visit before she drove me onward to my destination in Maine.
Granny retired in the 1970's and died the Fall after I graduated from college in 1981 at the age of 72. I so grateful I was home from college and was living in Virginia Beach with my mom so I got to attend the funeral. Granny is buried in Virginia Beach, VA next to her husband Dave Paul and most every trip back to the area I pay a visit to them both at the cemetery.
She taught me what it was to be a strong woman, who didn't take crap from anyone. No nonsense and she spoke her mind without much of a filter(so that's where I get THAT from!). lol One of her favorite sayings(one of the few that I can repeat here since she swore like a sailor at times)was she would ask you, "Have you got a hat? Her reply was always, Then go shit in it!"
She loved her kids and grandkids(and you knew it)but she wasn't much for coddling any of us because she knew life was hard and you had to be tough to survive.
She loved her Pall Mall cigarettes, her Pepsi Cola(never Coke!), Mrs. Fanning's Bread and Butter Pickles with her sandwich at lunch, Coffee, JFK(she had a Kennedy ashtray and a JFK commemorative trash can), and playing Bingo almost every night of the week when I was very small at various venues-- Catholic, Jewish, Protestant or Non-Denominational, it didn't matter your religious affiliation when it came to Bingo. She babysat me often so I learned my numbers and alphabet in part from those evenings in the bingo hall with her.
Thanks Granny for having a positive influence on my life!
Happy Birthday!
Sluggy
What beautiful memories Sluggy. I really enjoyed reading this and seeing all the old pics. Thank you for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteI remember using the Wang word processor when I first started college in the early 90s
What lovely memories you have of her. Sounds like quite a woman.
ReplyDeleteMy grandma was a hard worker since my grandpa was always sick with heart problems. She was stern and could cuss and smoke cigarettes (never in the house) and drink coffee and tea even though she was a "mormon". She was a rule breaker. Life was hard for her but she soldiered on. Some of my favorite memories of her were in the kitchen and staying with her on weekends. We made 100 pounds of her potato salad every Friday afternoon for her uncles meat market an it was sold out by Sat. afternoon. The meat market had creaky wooden floors and a pickle barrel and peanut butter barrel. I loved it there. We also canned everything. My favorites were dilly beans and Chili sauce. I have her recipes. She was a hard worker but knew how to have a bit of fun and stretch a dollar. My favorite memory was eating a huge pan of fried potatoes with bacon fried in it first with her one night for a late supper. I also watched the moon walk with all the relatives in the area from a recliner in her living room. I got the recliner first and she decreed that I was to have it even though I was a child and the adults wanted to sit there. She told me I was her favorite and in my own way I think I was. I did find out later we were all told we were her favorite. lol. Thanks for sharing your story with us and letting my mind wander down good memories of my grandma. Take care.
Thanks for sharing your memories of your Grandmother with us! I loved reading this. :)
ReplyDeleteCool pics of the old days. I can see your resemblance to her in that first photo.
ReplyDeleteShe sounds like a feisty and strong woman, like her grand daughter. And aren't you the cutest in those pictures. Did you ever find out what happened to your grandfather?
ReplyDeleteThat was a good story. I wonder if anyone ever heard from the guy who just never came back. ???
ReplyDeleteGreat story and you are very much like her and you were such a cute little girl.
ReplyDeleteWhat good memories, and thank you for sharing. YEs, the older generation of women, those that started their families in before, or shortly after WWII sure had to have gumption to make life work.
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