Grand parents
Jul. 17th, 2003 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljSome of my friends list mates are doing posts about their grandparents so here's mine
All of my grandparents had passed on by the time i was 30 so that's quite young too. My mom's dad died when she was a child so i never knew him. My dad's father died in 1973 at 82 and my both grandmothers died within about 6 weeks of each other, one at 90 on dec. 31/86 and one at aged 72 in Feb 87. I was closest to my dad's mother, Gram. I was only 14 when my Gramp died and i really was only just getting to know him as an adult. Before that he mainly sat in his chair when we visited and talked to Mom and Dad and watched us play. Most of how i "know" him comes from family stories. He was a funny man and a stubborn one as well. He wasn't that affectionate but neither was he aggressive or mean. He was older and wasn't the type to play with the grandchildren. I don't know if he did stuff with any of us 29 grandchildren but if he did it must have only been with the older ones with their parents, i.e. fishing with the boys or something. I"m one of the younger of the group, my sister being the youngest of the grandchildren. Her son Ryan is the 29th great grandchild... neat eh? He died of cancer but only had it for a few months. I only knew him as an older man, not the strong vital man he was. He was a logger in his younger days and worked on the telegraph lines as a linesman for many years, climbing poles in all weather. Dad and his twin are their youngest, born when Gram was about 39 and Gramp was 43.
Gram was 90 when she died. She sat tall and statuesque. White hair which for many years used to put that blue stuff in. The last few years she let it go white though. She was very quiet, not a chatty person and not an affectionate person either. But Mom was and we always hugged Gram and Gramp when visiting and they came to expect it. Gram loved to play cards and was involved in her church, Baptist i think. She had a difficult time accepting the various Catholic sons and daughters in law early on, but all of the in laws grew to love her very much.
Gram always had a tin of soft molasses cookies on offer for all the kids as well. She was a lovely woman, would love to sit and "hold court" on Sundays at the camp with everyone around. You could tell her jokes and she'd laugh right out loud sometimes but usually, she'd smile and say "oh dear that's very funny!" She loved to sit and watch her family around her at the camp, at weddings and parties and things.She did the most exquisite cut work embroidery and made pleated cushions. I have one of those and an afghan she knitted for me.
She lived in a senior's residence the last 10 years or so and when i lived away i would write to her and visit when i came home. Mom would wonder what on earth i could find to talk to her about for 2 or 3 hours of my visit! Gram loved Mom and thought highly of her as a daughter in law but Mom sometimes found it difficult to talk to Gram because Gram was so quiet. I never seemed to have that problem :) Every year on New Year's, the anniversary of her death, i say hi to Gram!
My Nan, Mom's mother was 72 and died of an aneurysm, quite suddenly so it was difficult. Gram had been sick in hospital a few months with respiratory problems and complications from diabetes i think. Nan was always very vigorous and energetic though slowed down after a triple bypass op a few years before she died. She had a great sense of humour, was very strong, she was a survivor, widowed very young with three small children. Nan always called us her angels. The memory that always comes to mind when i think of Nan was when we were small and lying in the canvas hammock in her backyard. She was sitting by the hammock swinging it and singing to us... I can still feel the heat of the sun on my face and hear her singing songs like "Lazy Mary" and "Skip to my LOu"
When Nan aquired something new, like a dress or a piece of furniture or something else exciting had happened she'd call up and enthuse "OH BOY!!!"... The more "Oh Boy's" the better it was!! To this day we do that in our family when something neat happens or is bought. When Mom got out of school she worked so that Nan could take a hairdressing course and she had a little salon in the front room of her house in Halifax. I can still smell the horrible perm solution! Nan would cut our hair with a razor ... Owie!! But she'd just tell us that we had to suffer to be beautiful!
Nan remarried in the mid 50's to Leo. He too was a quiet man, sarcastic of wit, but a good man. I never really knew him well because i think he wasn't sure how to relate to kids that well. He seemed to prefer the company of the men, playing cards, working on stuff in the yard or the workbench, leaving the women and the kids to our own devices. As an adult we always got along ok, i would never take his "insults" or sarcasm to heart, but stand up to him and he respected that. (i.e. asking you if you'd gained weight recently. I'd just smile and say yes i have, thanks for noticing!) I think that's just his way of communicating. Leo is now in a senior's home and has a form of dementia though it's not really advanced yet. He has spells when he's back 20 or 30 years and spells when he knows where he is and who everyone is. He's well over 80 now.
So that's my bit of nostalgia for today.
I don't have a really good photo of Nan or of Gramp but here's my favourite photo of Gram:
All of my grandparents had passed on by the time i was 30 so that's quite young too. My mom's dad died when she was a child so i never knew him. My dad's father died in 1973 at 82 and my both grandmothers died within about 6 weeks of each other, one at 90 on dec. 31/86 and one at aged 72 in Feb 87. I was closest to my dad's mother, Gram. I was only 14 when my Gramp died and i really was only just getting to know him as an adult. Before that he mainly sat in his chair when we visited and talked to Mom and Dad and watched us play. Most of how i "know" him comes from family stories. He was a funny man and a stubborn one as well. He wasn't that affectionate but neither was he aggressive or mean. He was older and wasn't the type to play with the grandchildren. I don't know if he did stuff with any of us 29 grandchildren but if he did it must have only been with the older ones with their parents, i.e. fishing with the boys or something. I"m one of the younger of the group, my sister being the youngest of the grandchildren. Her son Ryan is the 29th great grandchild... neat eh? He died of cancer but only had it for a few months. I only knew him as an older man, not the strong vital man he was. He was a logger in his younger days and worked on the telegraph lines as a linesman for many years, climbing poles in all weather. Dad and his twin are their youngest, born when Gram was about 39 and Gramp was 43.
Gram was 90 when she died. She sat tall and statuesque. White hair which for many years used to put that blue stuff in. The last few years she let it go white though. She was very quiet, not a chatty person and not an affectionate person either. But Mom was and we always hugged Gram and Gramp when visiting and they came to expect it. Gram loved to play cards and was involved in her church, Baptist i think. She had a difficult time accepting the various Catholic sons and daughters in law early on, but all of the in laws grew to love her very much.
Gram always had a tin of soft molasses cookies on offer for all the kids as well. She was a lovely woman, would love to sit and "hold court" on Sundays at the camp with everyone around. You could tell her jokes and she'd laugh right out loud sometimes but usually, she'd smile and say "oh dear that's very funny!" She loved to sit and watch her family around her at the camp, at weddings and parties and things.She did the most exquisite cut work embroidery and made pleated cushions. I have one of those and an afghan she knitted for me.
She lived in a senior's residence the last 10 years or so and when i lived away i would write to her and visit when i came home. Mom would wonder what on earth i could find to talk to her about for 2 or 3 hours of my visit! Gram loved Mom and thought highly of her as a daughter in law but Mom sometimes found it difficult to talk to Gram because Gram was so quiet. I never seemed to have that problem :) Every year on New Year's, the anniversary of her death, i say hi to Gram!
My Nan, Mom's mother was 72 and died of an aneurysm, quite suddenly so it was difficult. Gram had been sick in hospital a few months with respiratory problems and complications from diabetes i think. Nan was always very vigorous and energetic though slowed down after a triple bypass op a few years before she died. She had a great sense of humour, was very strong, she was a survivor, widowed very young with three small children. Nan always called us her angels. The memory that always comes to mind when i think of Nan was when we were small and lying in the canvas hammock in her backyard. She was sitting by the hammock swinging it and singing to us... I can still feel the heat of the sun on my face and hear her singing songs like "Lazy Mary" and "Skip to my LOu"
When Nan aquired something new, like a dress or a piece of furniture or something else exciting had happened she'd call up and enthuse "OH BOY!!!"... The more "Oh Boy's" the better it was!! To this day we do that in our family when something neat happens or is bought. When Mom got out of school she worked so that Nan could take a hairdressing course and she had a little salon in the front room of her house in Halifax. I can still smell the horrible perm solution! Nan would cut our hair with a razor ... Owie!! But she'd just tell us that we had to suffer to be beautiful!
Nan remarried in the mid 50's to Leo. He too was a quiet man, sarcastic of wit, but a good man. I never really knew him well because i think he wasn't sure how to relate to kids that well. He seemed to prefer the company of the men, playing cards, working on stuff in the yard or the workbench, leaving the women and the kids to our own devices. As an adult we always got along ok, i would never take his "insults" or sarcasm to heart, but stand up to him and he respected that. (i.e. asking you if you'd gained weight recently. I'd just smile and say yes i have, thanks for noticing!) I think that's just his way of communicating. Leo is now in a senior's home and has a form of dementia though it's not really advanced yet. He has spells when he's back 20 or 30 years and spells when he knows where he is and who everyone is. He's well over 80 now.
So that's my bit of nostalgia for today.
I don't have a really good photo of Nan or of Gramp but here's my favourite photo of Gram:
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-17 04:05 pm (UTC)I'm assuming the pic of your Gram was taken at a wedding. (I see a corsage.) She looks so happy. What a great smile!
Re:
Date: 2003-07-17 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-17 04:12 pm (UTC)My other grandmother...who's 84 and in great health... always makes soft molasses cookies... since I was a kid. She asked me a couple of years ago what I wanted for Xmas and I said her molasses cookie recipe. She'd never written it down until then.... they still don't taste the same... lol!
Re:
Date: 2003-07-17 04:16 pm (UTC)