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Posted By: Edwin264 Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Anyone have or had a tough grandmother? I had a German grandmother named Elnora Grams. She was born in Otto which is in Falls County Texas in the basement of the local church. She married my grandfather who was the son of an immigrant from Germany. His last name was Busch. They spoke fluent German . My grandfather worked 3 jobs. One night when grandpaw was working nights at General Tire, grandmaw told my dad to go feed the cows. My dad told her to do it herself. Grandmaw hit him in the head with a bucket and knocked his azz out! Her son’s wife called her a b¡tch one time and my grandmaw grabbed her by the throat and beat her down with a child’s potty chair. I’ll tell you what though, I never wondered if my grandmaw loved us. She raised us good. I really miss my old grandmaw.
My grandma was a strong woman of German ancestry. She lived for her family and grandchildren. I heard stories about her being “tougher” on my my mom and uncles. A no nonsense but incredibly loving and good woman.

As a young teen I made a rude comment about my uncle. She called me out for it rightfully so. She told me that he was my elder and her son. I obviously still remember it and the positive impression that it made. She was the matriarch that held our family together and will never be replaced.
Posted By: Brazos Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My grandmother was born in Indian Territory before it became Oklahoma. Moved to Fisher County Texas with her many sisters and one brother when she was a child. Raised two kids and helped with many grandkids and a few great-grands before she passed.

Tough as leather and sweet as molasses.

Miss her lots.
Posted By: Hotrod_Lincoln Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My grandparents owned a restaurant in the 1950's on Nashville's lower Broadway, about a block from the Ryman Auditorium- - -home of the Grand Ole Opry for many years. They lived in one of the upstairs rooms in the building, and rented several sleeping rooms on the two upper stories by the night. One morning my grandmother was standing in her room wearing undergarments and a slip, and ironing her work uniform for her upcoming shift at the restaurant, when a tenant decided to make a pass at her. She unplugged the iron she was using, chased him down the stairs with it, and pursued him for a block down Broadway before he managed to get away. Tough- - - -you bet!
Posted By: 7mm_Loco Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Unwelcome preacher at Harvest Time..." Well Mrs "R" I see the Lord has really blessed your Garden again this year".... Grandma... "I suppose i didn't have a God Damn Thing to do with it"...
I had my dad's mother living in the apartment above us from before my birth until she passed at 95. She was very strong willed. she taught me so much and did nice things for me. Miss her so much.
Posted By: rockinbbar Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Dad's mom was.

All of 4'11".

Tough as boot leather.

If the Church of Christ would have had nuns, she would have been one. wink She was at church at least 3 times a week.
Posted By: SCgman1 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Both grandfathers were long dead before I was born....
Spent a lot of time with both my grandmothers as both my parents worked......

God blessed me with that whole situation......
Posted By: OGB Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Mom's mom was Scott. Strong, stubborn and loving.
Dad's mom was Lakota. Mean, mean and mean.
Posted By: JamesJr Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My paternal grandmother was a Fritz, of German ancestry. I could literally write a book about her. Granny, as we called her, was a very strong and outspoken woman. People still talk about her today, and she has been gone since 1985. We lived in a big farmhouse with my grandparents, and she was in many ways just as much of a mother to me than was my mother. She was a storyteller supreme, and I still have some of the stories she wrote down at my request. I still miss her even today.

My maternal grandmother was part Cherokee Indian, and looked it.I wasn't around her very much, and when I was there were always a dozen other grand kids wanting attention. She was a good person and a very good cook.
Posted By: deflave Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Originally Posted by Edwin264
Anyone have or had a tough grandmother? I had a German grandmother named Elnora Grams. She was born in Otto which is in Falls County Texas in the basement of the local church. She married my grandfather who was the son of an immigrant from Germany. His last name was Busch. They spoke fluent German . My grandfather worked 3 jobs. One night when grandpaw was working nights at General Tire, grandmaw told my dad to go feed the cows. My dad told her to do it herself. Grandmaw hit him in the head with a bucket and knocked his azz out! Her son’s wife called her a b¡tch one time and my grandmaw grabbed her by the throat and beat her down with a child’s potty chair. I’ll tell you what though, I never wondered if my grandmaw loved us. She raised us good. I really miss my old grandmaw.


Style points for use of the potty chair.
Posted By: Osky Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My grandmother was born in the late 1880’s on the prairie in a sod cabin. Chuck Norris has nothing on her.

Osky
Posted By: bpas105 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My grandmother was a 6th grade teacher with severe arthritis, 2 artificial knees and 2 artificial hips. She was reduced to about 4'10' and 100# at the time. It was quite an effort for her simply to get to her 3rd floor classroom each day. After one of her many surgeries, one of her students wouldn't stop talking. I was in her class toward the front when, from the back you heard Gary start up again. There was a loud CRACK and then "Now, dammit, you'll be quiet!" She'd snuck up behind him and corked him back of the head with her casted arm. My grandfather was her head custodian, who kept all of the teachers there well-supplied with the world's best paddles, but he knew she was the boss, at work and at home.
Posted By: Joshm28 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Mine will be 86 this year. She lives on the farm her and my grandfather bought in 51. They were truck farmers on the side. I’m 43 and spent at least 1-2 nights a week with them. Now my kids (12 & 8) spend at least 1 night a week down there. In my 43 years I’ve never seen her talk bad about another person but she will throw out an “i will pray for you” real quick if pissed 😂🤣. A couple years ago she fell and broke her hip. Walked on it for 4 days before going to doctor 🤦🏻‍♂️

She still mows her own grass, drives, etc. she’s in great shape!! But you damn well better announce yourself if you show up at night unexpected. She has a revolver and is not afraid to use it 😂😂. She can hold her own shooting a .22 and clays as well.

Honestly she’s an amazing woman. Spent her whole life loving, nurturing and taking care of friends and family.
Posted By: hanco Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
You didn’t give mine any lip, had switch from fig tree.
Posted By: LRoyJetson Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Originally Posted by Edwin264
my grandmaw grabbed her by the throat and beat her down with a child’s potty chair. I

Was it empty? Or did she stop when she thought that she beat the chit out of her ?
Posted By: TrueGrit Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Grandma was full-blooded Norwegian and my ears still hurt from her grabbing them while switching me with a lilac limb. Grandma's are the greatest.
Posted By: cra1948 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My grandmother was born in 1900. My paternal grandfather, like many of the men in our family was a drunken philanderer. Sometime after her 3rd son (my father) was born she sent him packing and ran the farm by herself. Her two older sons signed on right after Pearl Harbor. My father was still in high school and she made him finish before joining the Navy (although he was sure the war would be over by then. It wasn’t.) She, like a lot of women, went to work in a defense plant. Unlike a lot of women, she stayed on after the war. She retired at 65 and, like many of our family, wasn’t very good at it. She ended up working into her 80’s. She kept a Savage 24, .22/.410 by the back door and whenever she thought she heard “prowlers” out around the barn at night would let fly with with a couple rounds of.410 out across the horse pasture. I still have her H&R too-break 5 shot.32 revolver that she carried when she thought necessary. She left us at 95.
Posted By: Chisos Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Originally Posted by hanco
You didn’t give mine any lip, had switch from fig tree.


My mother believed in multi-tasking any object which was in her reach as suitable for beating her baby boy (me). I learnt real quick to step lively around that woman.
Posted By: GringoCazador Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My grandmother was born in 1890’s Indian territory, Le Flore County Oklahoma. She graduated collage, was captain of her Collage Basket ball team at just over 5 feet tall. An essay she wrote in high school was on display at the worlds fair in New Your City. She fought in court for many years to beat back crooked land grabbers trying to steal family owned property with gas wells and the Sand Plant that mined silica sand that had been in the family for years.

She didn’t take sh…….t from no one. She had a shrewd lawyer by the name John Boyce McKeel. Being a single woman trying to do business in Oklahoma was tough. She also endured a husband (my Grand Father being railroaded to prison for 8 years on trumped charges. He was finally released once truth came out and politics changed.

She was a well educated nice lady, but tough as nails. Never went to a doctor in her life until about 1972.

They don’t make many like my Grandmother anymore. Her stories about growing up in Indian Territory I will never forget. It was not an easy life. Her version of history with documents to prove it and her knowledge of the civil war and what really went on were amazing. I learned a lot from her. Being tough on issues you have to deal and polite at the same time was one of them.
Posted By: BKinSD Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My Grandma was born 1920 in Deuel Co, SD and passed away in 2018 in Deuel Co, SD. We spent alot of time together, I had lunch with her and my Grandpa 3-4 days a week. She taught me lessons which serve every day. She never talked about what she'd done. She always talked about what she was going to do. She did her thinking in the future, her thoughts were always there. Which made her tough to beat at cards.

Some of her best aphorisms:

"Boys, do something, even if it's wrong."
"A couple of weeks of twenty below keeps the riff raff out."
"Educated and smart are two very different things."
Posted By: renegade50 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Daisy chained one of grams salem 100,s with 4 of those ciggerette loads when I was 7 or 8.
Ripple fire when they touch off.


Lucky it didnt cause her to stroke out I geuss.

Got my azz lit the fugg up from dad on that one.
Had to get his drunk azz up off his chair from a Red Sox game to do something, that is probably what ticked him off more....

Totally worth it for me!!!


Glad I never got caught backing up 5 and launching her nasty miniature poodle " Petu" thru the make pretend uprights.

Never messed with the Morrison side of the family grandparents or any relatives along that line.

But the french fugg side of the family it was game on like donkey kong with those tards.
Respect didnt apply to them in my mind.
And they all knew it too.
👍👍👍😄😄😄
Posted By: slumlord Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Lmfao

We did that to Uncle Harold one night while he was high as fook

We put a “lady finger” in his Benson Hedges

🤣🤣🤣🥴🥴🤣🤣
Posted By: shrapnel Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Originally Posted by renegade50


Glad I never got caught backing up 5 and launching her nasty miniature poodle " Petu" thru the make pretend uprights.




“End over end through those righteous uprights”

That is so funny! I swear those “kick me” dogs were made perfect for a good punt. Their legs just long enough to get you foot under them for a perfect lift off.
Posted By: Fireball2 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My grandma was a hoarder. After she died they found all manner of things she bought and hid "for a rainy day" She'd have tattered sheets on the bed but new ones in the closet. $100 here and there in books and shoes. Came from a time when you prepared for hard times because they always came, at some point. Died at 71.
Posted By: slumlord Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22


Pro tip: ya gotta wrap electrical around their snouts so grandma can’t hear em squeal
Posted By: slumlord Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Originally Posted by Fireball2
My grandma was a hoarder. After she died they found all manner of things she bought and hid "for a rainy day" She'd have tattered sheets on the bed but new ones in the closet. $100 here and there in books and shoes. Came from a time when you prepared for hard times because they always came, at some point. Died at 71.


Jackpot at my grandma’s place after she passed.

Not any cash stashed in Bibles

But Darvocets and Oxycodone out that wazoo. Dozens and dozens of filled scripts never opened.
Posted By: Rock Chuck Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My maternal grandmother is the only one I knew. She died in the 60's. She was a tough old bird who took things into her own hands. One time she had a small table that she thought would work well along a wall there there wasn't room for it. She sawed it in half and just nailed one side to the wall. It didn't look nearly as good as it sounds but it was there for many years. Grandpa sure wasn't going to contradict her. Someone told her one time that a little pinch of salt in a pot of coffee would make it less bitter. To her, a pinch was as good as a tablespoon and from that day on, her coffee was salty. Then she got some instant coffee and perked it. Perked salty instant coffee isn't something you'll ever drink more than once.
I could go on but you get the point.
Posted By: renegade50 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
I hated that little stained mouth hair and eye gland stained " dog".
Snappy little cantankerous fuugga.
Figured out I needed to show him I had the upper hand on him.
Shock and awe and fear outta the blue is what worked with "Petu"...

More of a lift and fling the fuuuck outta him than an actual nail him thru the uprights kick.
Little fugga learned after about 2 or 3 times to maintain some situational awareness around me and go hang out by gram while I was around.
Go to your safe space "Petu" like you been "taught".

🤣🤣🤣
Posted By: renegade50 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Originally Posted by slumlord


Pro tip: ya gotta wrap electrical around their snouts so grandma can’t hear em squeal

Lol !!!

You snapping your gramps dog nut sack with a rubber band while he was sleeping story.


Whats the matter boy???
You have a bad dream???

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Posted By: Whelenman Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
[quote=Osky]My grandmother was born in the late 1880’s on the prairie in a sod cabin. Chuck Norris has nothing on her.

Osky[/quote


That’s funny! We just looked at a picture of my Grandma in front of a soddie in Nebraska about the same time frame!
Posted By: shrapnel Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22


This tough old bastard was my grandfather. Born in Oklahoma in 1872, fought in the Spanish American War.

Later in life, after having a family and being abusive when he got drunk, he met the bottom end of a cast iron skillet wielded by my grandmother who was hiding behind the door. My aunt told me of the beating, although it didn't cure his alcoholism, it made him more conscious of how he treated my grandmother...

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
Posted By: LRoyJetson Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Originally Posted by renegade50

You snapping your gramps dog nut sack with a rubber band while he was sleeping story.


Whats the matter boy???
You have a bad dream???

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣


Funny without the dog too. shocked
Posted By: travelingman1 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Did not get much time with either of my Grandmothers but have fond memories of both. Loving to hear about the wonderful women in everyone's life.
Posted By: TheKid Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My Grandmom was born in a tent in SWOK in 1934. They lived in that tent until she was two. Her parents were migrant labor, chopping and picking cotton in season And returning home for the winter where Gramps would work odd jobs. She hated the transient lifestyle, living in a tent in west Texas doing day labor and wanted more for herself. She made a deal with her parents to stay home and keep house for an old couple, pick up the breakfast shift at the diner, and work the evening shift at the soda fountain in the drug store so she could stay and finish school. They agreed as long as they got the money when they returned. She was the first person in the family to graduate high school in the class of 1951.

She was the most vibrant, kind, loving woman I ever had the pleasure of meeting. She never had to touch a hair on my head to discipline me, I’d have never dared do anything to upset her. Sadly we said goodbye to her last month when she was 88. They don’t make them like her anymore
Posted By: Idaho_Shooter Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
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.
Posted By: Ben_Lurkin Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My paternal Grandmother was five foot nothing and weighed maybe 110. She was a saint when it came to most things but she did have a temper. When she was in high school, an older boy was beating up her brother. She jumped in the middle of it and was getting the better of him when he jumped up and ran home. She was hot on his heels when he ran into his house. She went in after him and finished the job there. Her parents were French and Irish from Quebec. The running joke was most days she was of Canadian descent, but on the rare occasion she was French, best head for the hills! She had a head full of jet black curly hair that stayed that way her whole life. Even in her 80's she had almost no grey in it.

My father was the oldest, as am I, and as the only grandson for fifteen years, I could do no wrong! My grandparents still had the family farm when I was in my teens. Grandpa was a professor so he had summer time off so I was loaned out to them to help with the farming. They had several acres under irrigation and it was my job to help with the water shares and all else farming. That was a good time, spending summers in a small town, taking a mid-day nap under the shade tree in the front yard, driving the trucks, shooting jackrabbits, helping around the place, and grandma's cooking! They had an old coal-fired furnace so Grandpa would hitch up his old dually trailer and we would head to Salina or Price, UT to get several loads to fill the coal bin in the basement; enough for winter time. That job wasn't as much fun; shoveling out several tons of coal from the trailer into the coal chute was a lot of work.

In the fall, there was always the harvest and lots and lots of bottling to do. That was an entire family affair with kids and adults pitching in to get everything picked, and bottled. My dad and his brothers and the rest all would pitch in and be rewarded with boxes and boxes of bottled fruits and vegetables; usually enough to last the next nine months. As they got into their late 70's the farm lot was sold as they couldn't keep up with it anymore and instead just kept a smaller garden at their house. Families grew and started careers of their own. Both grandma and grandpa were interested in family history and turned their remaining time to that in the years remaining to them. I sure miss those care-free days of summer and am grateful I was taught to work hard.

One of my earliest memories is of her singing in the church choir. She had a wonderful voice and us kids were almost memorized by her as she went about her daily work, singing and humming the entire time. She passed on to her eternal reward in 2005.
Posted By: cra1948 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
Originally Posted by cra1948
My grandmother was born in 1900. My paternal grandfather, like many of the men in our family was a drunken philanderer. Sometime after her 3rd son (my father) was born she sent him packing and ran the farm by herself. Her two older sons signed on right after Pearl Harbor. My father was still in high school and she made him finish before joining the Navy (although he was sure the war would be over by then. It wasn’t.) She, like a lot of women, went to work in a defense plant. Unlike a lot of women, she stayed on after the war. She retired at 65 and, like many of our family, wasn’t very good at it. She ended up working into her 80’s. She kept a Savage 24, .22/.410 by the back door and whenever she thought she heard “prowlers” out around the barn at night would let fly with with a couple rounds of.410 out across the horse pasture. I still have her H&R too-break 5 shot.32 revolver that she carried when she thought necessary. She left us at 95.


Hadn't thought about it until I read about a few other grandmothers on here, but my grandmother was a smoker too. She had two packs open at a time, one of Lucky Strikes (the original, short, unfiltered kind) and one of Kools (also short, unfiltered which I'd never heard of prior to seeing hers.) Probably why she only made it to 95.
Posted By: Brazos Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/13/22
My paternal grandmother was also a tough one. She told her husband, my grandfather, she didn't intend to see her boys grow up to be coal miners like he was. He agreed and they left Arkansas for Texas.

They lived in several small towns. In one of them rental houses were hard to come by. One landlord told her that no children were allowed. She told him to hold the house for her while she went down to the river to drown her three boys..... he rented her the place.

After several moves, they had settled in Jones County. When my grandfather got restless and ready to move on, she told him that she and the boys were through moving and he could come home for holidays if he wanted. He stayed.

After I married we were visiting with them after I got out of the Army. They asked our plans. I told them we were going to ramble for a while before settling down. She turned to my wife, looked her dead in the eye and said "I'd squash that!"
Posted By: Edwin264 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/14/22
Another story about my grandmother:

When my mother and uncle were kids, my grandpaw was workin in the field. A stray dog came up and growled at my mother and uncle. Grandmaw took a hammer out there and beat the dog to death. Man she was tough!
Posted By: blanket Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/14/22
Most of us old folks grandmothers were tougher than Wang leather they needed to be
Posted By: Nestucca Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/14/22
Originally Posted by rockinbbar
Dad's mom was.

All of 4'11".

Tough as boot leather.

If the Church of Christ would have had nuns, she would have been one. wink She was at church at least 3 times a week.

Moms mom was tougher and meaner than [bleep]. When you were told not to slide down the barn roof and went to the other side and did it anyway that women knew. Then when she said go get a willow switch and make it a good one or I’ll get one myself you made sure she didn’t get to pick one herself. Hand milked the cows herself until she was in her late 80s and all the other farm chores after my grandfather died
Posted By: plainsman456 Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/14/22
My Grandmother on my dad's side would make you go to the switch tree and cut your own when you got in trouble.

After trying to gain some sympathy by bringing a large piece to her once she gave me an extra dose of whooping.

I got to be good at dancing in a circle.
Posted By: Nestucca Re: Tough Grandmothers - 04/14/22
Plainsman I can relate
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