Tuesday, August 16, 2016

In Grandma's Words: Part One


This is my Grandma Smith. 

Words escape me in writing about her. As I said in her eulogy, how do you put unconditional love into words? She was my kindred spirit and one of my very best friends, and I miss her terribly.

So you can imagine the emotional impact when my mom handed me a book at a family picnic. It was a guided journal that I had given to my grandmother for Christmas one year. I had no idea if she had ever filled any of it out, so to find out that she had filled out several pages and to be given those pages...

Priceless.

And because her unconditional love for me was the same unconditional love she showed to everyone in her family, I want to share her journal entries. They are sweet and personal and offer glimpses of her childhood, her love for Grandpa, and her simple love of life.

The prompts are provided, as well as her responses in italics.

Grandma's full maiden name was Lela Virginia Castle.

She was given this name because she had a cousin named Lela and mom and dad liked it. Her name was Moretz and she still lives in North Carolina. She called me in Sept. 2001.

Her birth date and place of birth: I was born Nov. 16th 1929 in Boone, North Carolina; that is in Watauga County. I was born on a Saturday. We moved to Beech Flats near Canton April 30th, 1931. I was coming 2 years old. I joined 11 other brothers and sisters.

What was happening in the world when she was born: I really don't remember much that went on, but I looked some things up. Herbert Hoover was our president.


No comments:

Post a Comment