Paternal Matriarch

Two Word Summary... No Nonsense

Wow what an influential woman!

She has outlived 4 husbands, has persevered far more than Scarlett O'hara and would do most anything to help anyone in need.

She told me once that, "she wanted to live to be 100 and not a day more"... well she is 92 and I pray she gets her wish!

Interesting facts about Helen:

-as a young bride she lived in a remodeled schoolbus

-she lost her first born at 6ms to Typhoid Fever

-she only consumed one alcoholic drink in 92 years "and that one was because she was tricked"

-worked as an assistant nurse, caring for others until she was 72+

-never smoked

-Strong Christian Woman (Baptist)

-Hair went completely white very early in life

-Raised 6 sons and one daughter

-Believed "it isn't a sin to be poor...but it is to be dirty... cleanliness is next to Godliness"

-Gardened and canned everything

-"No couple sleeps in the same room unless they are legally married"

- I remember standing on a stool next to grandma as she hummed gospel tunes while cooking dinner on her antique cook stove... there was an old hand pump off the back porch to get cold water.

- I remember grandma heating water on the stove and giving me a bath in her farm style cast iron sink.

- I remember grandma's collection of salt and pepper shakers that filled the shelf that encircled the top 12 inches of her entire kitchen.

Other Memories that stay with me....

... the day my dad installed running water in her kitchen

...the patchwork 18in x 18in mix-matched linoleum kitchen floor that resembled one of her quilts

....how I hated to use the outhouse

....how creepy the woodshed was

...how she and Aunt Alberta would make me sundresses in the summer

...how much I wanted my own room at her house so she helped me set up a beautiful sun-filled 2nd floor room...walked me up in the evening...stayed till I fell asleep... then was tolerant of me when I cam right back down with her because I was too scared to stay upstairs alone

...getting rainbow sherbet when we went to town

...eating cornflakes if I didn't like what was for dinner

...watching Wild Animal Kingdom & Disney World on Sunday Nights

...her passion for the color RED

...the day after the farm burned down

...her unbreakable spirit

...her collection of "uncolored angels"

...sending me flowers in high school for no other reason than because she loves me

... her love and support during my pregnancies

...her presence at every prenatal doctor's visit

...sharing her meals at Friendly's with my daughters

...helping me with my girls as if they were her own

...paying them a penny a pair to match socks

...encouraging me to return to nursing school, buying me meal tickets, pinning my RN completion pin on my gown

...making sooo many quilts for everyone

...her tears at my uncles funerals

....her year-round, 20ft, front-yard, christmas tree lights

...how she enjoys little dogs

...her unconditional love

Today my grandmother, Helen is 92, frail in appearance, tires easily but still has an unbreakable spirit.

Through her I have learned to trust in God, to do what is right, to be strong, to avoid dwelling on the negative and to love unconditionally.

What a gift it has been to have her as a role model !