I didn’t have one.
Not on either side.
Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers had passed away long, long before I was born. I heard stories of them.
I saw a picture of each one - my mother’s mother was 18, and beautiful, and she was in her wooden casket. The casket was propped against the church wall. She was dressed all in white and had ribbons on her feet with ribbon roses across them. Her hair was dark.
My paternal grandmother was posed holding her diploma from graduating from college to be a teacher. She had high cheekbones, blue eyes, and dark hair. One time the pump handle flew up and hit her in the face, and she died from what they told me was cancer that developed.
Now Mama’s mama was one of three sisters, the Crest Sisters, from Missouri. It was told that their daddy had a little restaurant where he served chili and had a dancing bear! During the depression they had to redo a chicken coop to live in. The two younger sisters tried to raise the newborn who was my mother, but the baby got so sick Auntie stepped in. Auntie was my mother’s father’s sister and lived in the Delta.
The sisters, Aunt Louise and Aunt Keitha, were my stand-in grandmothers.
Aunt Louise was married to Uncle Aubrey; they were both what you would call “large” people. Aunt Louise struck me as kind of a square, very short and very wide. She was also very kind, and I remember a visit they made with us when we lived at the motel mama and daddy managed for a while.
She got out brown paper, white and black crayons, and sat down with me to teach me how to draw sheep and lambs. We made “m” s and ‘c”s for the furry bodies. Black legs were added and black eyes. I remember how special I felt that she would sit with me and teach me. I was very proud of our sheep.
Another time they brought me books about the ocean that had stamps that I could paste in the pages of the wonderful, beautiful, mysterious creatures of the sea!
One Christmas they had a store when we went to see them. They took me to the store, and let me pick out anything! Anything at all! And I still remember the doll I chose.
I learned from these women and the stories of their lives.
But the most important things to pass on to children and grandchildren are spiritual: the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how to be saved, to live in faith, how to pray over all things, and what is in the Bible. In 2 Timothy 1:5 Paul says to Timothy, “For I call to mind the sincere faith that is in you, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that is is in you as well.”
Can you say you are sure faith lives in your children and grands?
Act Now!
