Our first through fifth grandchildren were all born between 1960 and 1965. John’s first five. You heard Stanley’s stories about the children. Yes, that Kathy Lou did have free reign at the station. But, if you asked around the family, I think they may accuse me of having a favorite too, John Robert.
“I would have to agree. Stan Jr here…I lived in Australia for a while. I was home for a visit after two years. I found the cookie jar hidden away in the cupboard, full of my favorite, Grandma Pearl’s Date Filled Cookies. I asked Maggot, we called her that lovingly, if I could have one. Now I should have known there was a reason that the jar was not out on the counter as it always was. Mom’s response, “those are for John Robert.” Her son, who she had not seen for over two years, asked for just one of his favorite cookies and gets “No, they are for John Robert.” Really?”
“Not to rub salt in his wounds, but Kathy here… I asked Grandma for one of those cookies and guess what, she gave me one. (Big smile) I walked right into the living room and sat down next to Uncle Stan and ate that cookie. It was the best one ever.”
What is that saying, If Mom says no ask Grandma. If Grandma says no… who are we kidding, Grandma never says no… at least not to my grandkids.
I went back to teaching in 1965. This time in Woodhull teaching French and Latin. Stanley had to drive me back and forth. After all the others had grown and moved on, Anna Marie sometimes took on that task when Stanley was busy.
“Yes Mom, remember that time I picked you up, it was winter and there was a lot of snow and ice on the road. You were already a bit scared and so was I. I was a pretty new driver. We were coming up over Hayes Hill and there was a car driving down the center line. I put on the brakes and we started spinning around. After about two times around I was able to get the car righted and started driving toward Greenwood. All you could say was, “Anna Marie, don’t you think we should pull over for a minute.” At that point all I could think about was getting home and there really wasn’t anywhere to pull over, so, we carried on.”
When Woodhull School closed, I went back to Greenwood, this time in the Junior High School. I taught English and History. Sadly, still no Math or Science.
“Grandma, Kathy again…I loved coming over to your house and grading papers for you. I was like 8 to 10 years old, I think. Some of my cousins on my mom’s side were in your classes. I lorded that over them. Especially when they really weren’t doing that well with their grammar. When I was in eighth grade, as an assessment before starting a unit on grammar, I was asked to take a paragraph and identify as many parts of speech as I knew. I was able to diagram the entire paragraph. They moved me to another class that was not going to spend all spring on grammar. Thanks for that. I am still affectionately called ‘The Grammar Nazi’.”
“John Robert, the favorite (smirk) here… what I remember is you saying ‘pardon’ until we said whatever it was that we were trying to say to you using correct grammar. Don’t get me started on ‘can’ versus ‘may’ and ‘lay’ versus ‘lie’; and yes, I know I’m not a chicken.”
“Joseph, Joey, Joe here, John’s number 4. The word I heard most from Grandma was ‘hark’. That loosely translated in Grandma-ese was ‘kids settle down and be quiet.’ We could get a bit rambunctious in the parlor.”
“I remember coming to Grandma’s after we moved away. Patty, John’s fifth or Trish as am known today… there were six kids at that point and Mom and Dad preferred that we slept when we traveled. Less arguing about who was inching their way into someone else’s space in the car, I think. We would arrive after Grandma and Grandpa had gone to bed. But, Grandma always greeted us at the door in her night gown with her long braid hanging down her back. It is the only time we ever saw her hair down.”
“Joan, John’s third here…We always knew what was coming from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas. Books and pajamas or socks and brain teaser games. She definitely liked us to use our minds. I became a Trixie Belden mystery fan from her. A couple times we got blankets. She had visited our house and saw us kids taking the blankets off our beds to use while we watched TV. That year, we got TV pals as she called them.”
“Jeff, John’s sixth and youngest boy, youngest of all for ten years before Lisa came along… There was a two or three year period when Grandma was ‘blessed’, I use that term loosely, with six grandsons. Me of course, Denny and Tommy (Sally), David (Catherine), and Eric and Shawn (Ellen). Do you know how much noise six little boys can make in one small parlor? You got it. A lot. Joe thought he heard “hark” a lot. Grandma sounded like a barking dog when we were all there. And, boy did we do a number on the sofa, jumping on and off all the time.”
As Irene Chaffey said to Kathy while chatting on the telephone, referring to John’s brood, “there are a lot of you, yes?” Yes, final count, 7. And we went on to have 20 grandchildren in total.
“Stephanie here, Anna Marie’s oldest… my best memories are from what I call my driving adventures with Grandma. The best two. One time when I had taken her to the doctor or somewhere in Hornell, we were driving along and I grabbed a pop and started drinking it. Grandma said, “Stephanie, put that away. Put that away right now. Drinking and driving is against the law.” The second was when I drove Grandma back from our cousin Lenora’s, Ellen’s daughter, wedding. Mom had stayed to help with something. Dad and Mark were in the backseat asleep so Grandma was riding shotgun. I got pulled over for speeding. The officer was nice; but, still gave me a ticket. Once he walked away from the car, Grandma said, “you should have told him I was having a sugar attack and you were going for help.” Grandma, the wife of a Justice of the Peace and former Deputy Sheriff, telling me to lie to a police officer; I was shocked to say the least.”
“Mark, Anna Marie’s youngest…We lived right behind Grandma and the best part was her freezer. Always jam-packed with ice cream treats from the Schwann man.”
Sally lives in our old house now. Her kitchen always has treats for her grandkids too. And lots of pop for all. Her dad would be proud.
Tommy here. Yes, I am going to get sappy again. Just as Grandpa did, Grandma deserves it. I have so many fond memories, there isn’t just one that comes to mind but many worthy of mentioning. I remember leaving my elementary classroom at the end of each day and journeying upstairs to her English classroom. I would wait patiently until the older students were released for the day so I could walk home with her. I remember her grilled cheese sandwiches made from a big block of cheddar which came inside a cardboard box that I dipped in tomato soup. I remember after her heart surgery, she would walk for miles each day around the streets of Greenwood in those old school dress shoes she wore. I remember her sitting at the kitchen table playing solitaire for hours at a time. I remember how strong she was when my Grandpa Murray passed away. Most of all, I remember being oversees with the Air Force and unable to be home when we lost her. These are just a few fond memories of my Grandma. I was privileged to have shared a special bond with her and there is no doubt, she made a positive impact on many lives and always made sure her family and friends knew they were loved.
They say grandkids are a blessing. They are. But, they are a challenge too. One Stanley and I freely accepted and treasured. As Stanley shared, we love that they are all coming back to Greenwood to share our history with a reunion of not only the Murray Clan but the Lounsberry Family as well. They began having their gathering at the old Murray Farm, then when Tommy lived in town at his house down by the cemetery. Now, Laurie Lounsberry Meehan has been restoring the Lounsberry Farm and has a pavilion where they all meet over the Fourth of July holiday. We can just hear all the tales of their childhoods being shared with the next generation. I don’t know who I would have become had that bishop not asked me to come and teach in this small little town. But, I do know that I loved my life and all the people I shared it with in Greenwood.