Yes, Gramma was a saint, but tough as nails.
At 80 years she was still irrigating all day with Granddad. Raising a 4000 sq ft garden. Canning that produce and the fruit from the peach, nectarine, plum, cherry, apricot, and apple trees in the back yard. Then there was milking chores. Half a dozen Guernsey cows every night and morning.
They no longer sold milk at that time. Instead they bought baby calves to raise and sell.
Gramma always baked one day per week. About a dozen loaves of bread, plus sweet rolls, and there was always a yellow cake with chocolate frosting on the counter.
Grandkids were welcome to all the fresh homemade bread with fresh squeezed butter they could eat, with a glass of fresh cold milk from the fridge. Usually followed by the aforementioned cake.
And there was the nightly Bible reading. Gramma never went to bed untill she had read a few verses. She was one of the most deeply devout Christians I have ever met. Her honor of the Sabbath was iron clad.
Her biggest disappointment in life was when macular degeneration took her vision in her mid eighties. She could no longer read her precious Bible. The family bought her the Bible on Cassette Tapes. But it was not the same for her.
The grandfolks lived in a modest two bedroom with one bath. There was almost always a down on their luck guest in the back bedroom.
Usually a single mother struggling to raise two or three kids. The Grandfolks did not have much except plenty of food and a warm place to sleep. But they shared it generously.
She was a tiny lady. Petite at possibly 5' 2". She raised six kids and suffered six miscarriages between. I never heard a one of 24 grandkids say one word crosswise to Grandma.
If Grandma had not knocked them on their ass, they would have had to face Grandpa, then their parents, and uncles and aunts, and finally all those cousins.
Mostly we all loved the dear lady too much for a cross word to even come to mind.
RIP my dearest Grandma, 1902-1995.
