Grandma B.

I never was grandmotherly/granddaughterly close to my Grandma B. She was still my grandma none the same and so her memory should also be sustained.

Born on 8-8-1912 the second youngest of 5 kids to immigrant farmers from Germany at a time when Germany and Prussia were at war. The family escaped by boat to a better life in America. At the age of 3 her mother passed away, she was raised by her older sister Ameila and brother Joe.
She lived a hard farmer's wife life and did the best she could for all of her boys and her two daughters.

There are lots of things I remember about my grandmother and her modest home in small farm town mid America. As a young child, visits to grandma's required good "sit still quietly" manners. There really wasn't much to do at grandma's as my sister and I were pretty much the youngest of the immediate grand kids, every one else was pretty much grown adults.

I remember her house reminded of a modest museum with funky lamps and candy dishes. It always seemed to have a faint sent of mothballs. Grandma's old chair that she always sat perched in, next to the large front windows to be able to watch for Bus to come home from the shop, or an unexpected visitor. She was always anxious for Bus to come home as it was always so lonely being at home.

When I would get to restless sitting quietly listening to Grandma and mom talk about the goings on of the town and what was going on with one cousin or another, I would be allowed to play on the front porch. Grandma had a rather large platform like porch that was raised a bit from the rest of the porch, almost like a stage. I would dance or put on little shows on that porch or sometimes jump off as if I was Wonder Woman. Grandma did have old coloring books left over from past cousins. Most of the coloring books were already colored in so I would normally end up flipping through the pages.

One strange thing that stands out in my head was my fascination with her phone. Even in the early eighties my parents had a push button phone, but grandma's phone was a rotary phone. I always wanted to dial numbers just to see the little wheel turn around. The other thing that stands out was the porcelain pink elephant pencil holder next to the phone. I always wanted that pink elephant and often wonder what happened to it.

On 8/8/88 we had a big birthday/family reunion for Grandma. All the cousins and kids were there. I always thought it would be so cool to have a birthday with a date like that. If grandma were still living 8/8/08 she would have been 96. She lived her final years in the nursing home, where she was probably pampered more there than ever in her life. God Bless Ya Grandma!