Tell me about your grandmother (or grandfather)

[fuzziebutt]

My maternal grandmother was the matriarch of the family, and everyone did what she said, with no arguments. She was a firm believer in child abuse as a form of punishment. She decided that my mother was not able to take care of me, since mom already had my brother. Sooo, she gathered me up and "gave" me to my aunt (mom's sister) and uncle. They had to legally adopt me, and Mom was not allowed to fight it. So I grew up being babysat by people who weren't able to have their own children, and never wanted any. I wasn't raised with my brothers and sister. I met them when I turned 18. I met mom, dad, and everyone else in the family when I turned 18. Then I walked away from all of them, and have lived on my own for the last 33 years. Mom and I became great friends, always calling each other. She passed away about 10 years ago, but as a friend. We never got to bond as mother and daughter. I am sometimes jealous of close families, but usually just shrug it off.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

One set were as evil, abusive, sociopathic as the female biological donor. The other set disowned the male donor when he enlisted and I never knew them. They may still be alive, I don't want to know them, given I married a Marine.

 

[love-my-wolves]

Hmmmm, well, I'll start with my paternal grandparents. Between them and their eventual re-marriages, they have 17 children, my father is one of the older ones. My grandmother is a wonderful woman who plays stringed instruments and sings and is very religious. My grandfather is the exact opposite. He is active and fun loving in a "I want to be your best friend" kind of way. He rebuilds antique cars and tractors, and is just a fun guy, even though he likes to kiss all us "kids" on the lips (totally innocent, but ewwwww gross!)LOL

My maternal grandparents were insane. Well, my grandmother was. She was a hypochondriac (sp?), a pathological liar, and an adultress. She was caught by my grandfather having "relations" with another man inside their church. Neither attended church ever again, and two of the children (my aunt and uncle) we are fairly sure are not his biologically. My grandmother passed away 7 years ago, and my grandfather, who was a generally good man became the insane one. He stopped taking his meds, couldn't care for himself, and just wasted away. He had relied on my grandmother so much that he didn't know how to live without her. It was sad all the way around. I'm glad I knew them, but it's also hard because my mother now acts like my grandmother, a hypochondriac and a pathological liar. She lost all her friends because of it, and my brother and I almost never call her because we don't know how to deal with it.

 

[Carols Clucks]

I have wonderful memories of my moms mom, mormor in Danish. She would come and visit when I was younger and when I was about 10 we would fly over and visit her for as long as we could with out needing a special visa/permission. She lived in a neat brick house across the street from one of the Danish Island 12th century Round churches, with an open green across the street and a garden with gooseberries (stikkelsbær). I could use my aunts old bike to ride down to the farm, one of those square shaped farms with a center courtyard. The cobble stones were more stones than flat cobble. And they had a dozen or more barn cats. I even went to school while we would be there, my aunt was the principal. I still have her tea set, some silver and the goose down comforters that she made from the geese she raised to sell. Some times I will get a whiff of something that brings me right back to sitting in her dinning room.

My grandfather was much older than her and he passed when I was 5, I have no memory of him.



My dad's mom died in the spanish flu epidemic of 1918 (if you are a Meyer in Idaho or Spokane you might be a relative)
My grandfather was a gifted man with many demons, my dad ran away from him and the orphanage when he was 16ish. I never met my grandfather. I did find out where he came through Ellis Island, he had told everyone he jumped ship in Seattle and was making his way east. Might have had some thing to do with his status as Married when he came thru Ellis. Story has it he got in a bar fight over a lady of ill repute and ended up in the hospital, where he tried to leave in his gown and got sick and died at 91?

 

[EweSheep]

I am blessed with knowing both sides of my grandparents and they are all gone now.

Paternal grandparents, I LOVE them! Grandpa was a milkman for Kembrook Dairy here in Decatur, IL for many years until the business was bought out by Meadow Gold Dairy. He was enlisted during the last part of WWII but never fought. He had six brothers, one died as infant. He came from a family of farmers, have the love of country, avid gardner, loved to travel, eating chocolate covered cherries. He was blessed with eight kids. He lived to be 72 years old. He was so active right up to his sudden death. He took a lovely walk out in the beach, and came inside to rest, died in his sleep. We kidded among ourselves that he wants to make the last trip from Ft Myers to Decatur, IL. His father was a farmer, and delivery milkman in his later years and his mother was a wonderful cook, very doting on her grandkids. My Dad used to remember that she would tell Grandpa, "Let that boy eat!" when my Dad ate a bit more than his usual share. She would make sure that the kids ATE first then her kids.
Paternal grandpa with his brothers and parents, taken sometime in 1935, just before WWII.

Grandpa, same family picture....

My Grandma has been a very big influence on who I am and what I enjoyed doing was what she loved to do. She loved to cook, make things with her hands like knitting, croquet, sewing clothes and later in life, she was a cook manager of Big Boy's hamburger joint on the corner of Water and Pershing Street. She was a bit spoiled because she was struck down by rhuematic fever as a child, so her sisters helped her with alot of things, even babysitting her kids, washing loads of clothes. She was the first open heart recipient having her valves replaced as her heart was so large. Her doctor at the time when she was married would tell her "Velma, you better not have any kids because of your weaken heart, the pregnancy will kill you." Grandma had her first born, a son, after being so worried about her dying or dead at the time of delivery but she didn't. So she played Russian roulette with her life, by having more kids (eight kids alive, one or two miscarriages) and her doctor was frantic "Velma, if you get any more kids, you will die!" She didn't care until her doctor said "G------ D------- it, Velma! I don't know what to do with you!" Her doc gave up but he was very surprised she made it alive after all those kids, despite of the odds of patients having rhuematic fevers. However all those pregnancies took a toll on her heart, enlarging it as it progressed. At the age of 52 years old, she suffered a fatal heart attack that ended her life suddenly. I missed her! She taught me to knit which I never took it on, her love of horses and her chickens. I remember making hard candies, making newspaper patterns on the floor to make my clothes, and I was very special..I was her first granddaughter. Her father was a tenant farmer and drank heavily. Her mother was alot like her, loves to cook and being with her broods, doting on every one of them, no favorism to any of the children but fiercely protective of her daughters (as the story has it, that great gramps would be drinking heavily and hitting on his daughters, possibly molesting them....she threatened to take a rolling pin on him "If you EVER touch my daughters again, I will KILL you!" He smartened up and didn't do it again.)
Here is the pic of my grandmother when she was a teenager.

As for my maternal grandparents, they had a hard life and their lives were not told much. Grandpa was Swedish, German and English descendent. Worked as the city employee, patching up roads, doing odd jobs until he retired. He loved to garden until he fell and broke his hip during one ice storm. He was a bit mean toward his grandkids, by pinching us, loves to see us in pain until a few years before his death, he mellowed. Not much said about his parents but I have the honor to know his mother, a very sweet woman, with a fierce independent and temper that you simply would not tell her otherwise. She can hold her own. She loved my mom, encouraged my mom to finish high school (Mom was the only child of seven that graduated from high school) and she practically raised my mom when my grandmother was tired of the kids. They have been married for a long time despite of the weird situation when they first met (both of them were married to their spouses and adultery was a hush hush affair). Grandpa been married three times, the longest was with my Grandma.

Maternal grandma, boy, she was a mean little witch but she had a very hard life. She had no love for her kids but man, she could cook an army! Her fried chicken, coleslaw and her cherry pies were the best memories I had of her cooking. She hated to garden or do any outdoor work but rather do domestic work, she was a neat freak, nothing out of place which her daughters all have that trait to "keep up with the Joneses" and very bad with financial issues as well as mental issues which can try the patience of a saint. Pity are the men that married into the family LOL! The common thing they love to do is to gossip. I remember the women would all sat in the kitchen gossiping, bad mouthing, etc. while the men were outside having their own discussions of sports and male bonding LOL! Us kids would go outside and play but can not get dirty (unlike my paternal grandparents which they encouraged us to get downright muddy and make mud pies and just being "kids"..what a bit of mud won't hurt us!) Grandma's father was always drunk, never around for his kids, while her mother worked hard, died young, leaving her young daughters at the mercy of the state that the girls would run away for awhile. Grandma had odd jobs, as a Chinese cook (oh the meals!), short order cook and when WWII broke out, she went into the "dark side" of prositution to make ends meet to feed her sisters (all were very young teenagers) but not for long until she married her first hubby, divorced him within a year and remarried my Grandpa.

I don't have any real love toward my maternal grandparents....they were too mean and they called us "bastards". Both of them died of cancer resulted from chain smoking of Camels...they didn not believe smoking causes cancer but it was painful for me to see them grasping every breath and try to smoke thru oxygen tubes. A horrible way to die, drowned in their lungs, filling up with fluids and there is nothing doctors can do about it at the time. Many times I wished my paternal grandparents would stay alive because they are so gentle and loving and my maternal grandparents die young because they are so mean. Seems like the meaner you are, the longer you will live...such a thought as young as I was. I was so mad at God for taking my paternal grandparents so young while the maternal grandparents stay alive......... I swear if I want to live longer, I better be a mean ol cuss but it is not my nature.

 

[QH Girl]

I love the pics, and Barefootmom, your grandmother was gorgeous!

I grew up in a small town (population 5000). My maternal grandmother owned the department store and my paternal grandmother owned a cafe right across the street. I remember going back and forth between them all day, never getting bored. They've both been gone 20+ years and not a day goes by that I don't think of them.

 

[sumi]

My grandfather on my father's side is blind. Has been since age 3. He learned to "see" with his ears and he's so good, I swear he's psychic! He knows you entered the room from listening to your footsteps. He had a good job, raised 6 children, taught them all how to drive a car!
He introduced me to the radio when I was small, I remember how spooked is was by this little box talking with a human voice!
He was a strong man, difficult, we argued a lot. Then my father died and a few weeks later my grandmother died. He's not the man he used to be. The fight's gone out of him. We still argue sometimes, but mostly I make him laugh. He just turned 80 and I wish I could see him just one more time before he, too, goes away.

 

[call ducks]

MY nanny is awesome! She has put up with so many surgries but she is a servivor. She makes the besssssssssssssst bucket pickles ever an knows her stuff! She is snappy and Whity.

 

[EweSheep]

I often remember my paternal grandma and her older sister always make those homemade rock candies of any flavor...it was a treat we still remember to this day!