Saturday, January 17, 2015

Matriarch


So this is a family photo of my grandparents, mom, aunt, and 2 uncles. Grandma just passed this week at 93 and 1/2 years old. 

She was a character. Always. She was born in 1921, lived through the Great Depression, lived (as it was built) on the Homestead in Crossville, and served in the army during World War II. Yes. You read that right. My grandMother was in the army (WAC) in WWII and it was one of the things she was most proud of. At a time when "your mom wears combat boots" was an insult, her instruction was to respond with "your da*n right she does!"

She fought for women's rights and racial equality before such things were even classified as "issues", she fought for her kids, and then her grandkids.  

She also fought against cooking, going to bed before midnight, waking up before noon, kids being in the kitchen (even though she was never the one cooking in said kitchen), coffee below 108 degrees, and ambient temperature above 45 degrees. 

She taught me to write, to read, how to treat women (and everyone else), that there is no such thing as race, and how to be married with Joy (my grandpa died also at 93 years old while lying in his nursing home bed With grandma on their 64th wedding anniversary).

This woman refused to eat a banana if it wasn't completely green. When I say green, I mean Oak Ridge nuclear green!  She would eat shredded wheat for breakfast. At noon. 
She wouldn't let anyone stand up while she was sitting down eating. If you just wanted to say "hi", you had better take a seat to do it. 

Nothing got past grandma.