Effie, A Woman from Another Time
This story was written in 2016, in memory of Great Grandma…
My great grandmother’s birth certificate listed her father’s occupation as “farmer.” When I saw this, it really made me pause and think about how much the world changed during her lifetime. Does anyone even personally know a farmer anymore, or even know someone who knows someone that is a farmer? It also took me a minute to figure out why her mother’s occupation wasn’t listed; women stayed at home back then. This made me grateful for the opportunity to contribute to today’s workforce.
My great grandmother told me a few stories over the years. Honestly when we spent time together it revolved around family gatherings and playing cards. She mentioned once that her father was Irish and her mother Spaniard. Her mom taught dance lessons from home to make extra money. My parents, however, have no discernible culture or heritage that I can speak of. Great Grandma grew up during a time when “waste not, want not” actually meant something. In such a time of excess that we all live in today, it seems almost impossible to understand the life she lived.
She was about fourteen when the Great Depression hit. I remember her telling me about how much she enjoyed going to school, but had to drop out when she was about fifteen. She could not go anymore because she did not have a coat. Seriously, a coat kept her from her education. Can anyone even imagine that now? It was Michigan and she didn’t have a coat to keep her warm enough to wear to walk to school. People just didn’t have money then. When she married Great Grandpa, she wasn’t even allowed to live with him until he could find work. Times were tough and people were tougher then, I believe.
Great Grandma lived through the Dust Bowl, The Great War, World War II, Woman’s Suffrage, the Civil Rights movement, and music from rag time to rock to disco to pop. She knew life before television and her parents knew life before cars. Yet now most people can’t live without their cell phones.
She had a genuine appreciation for the little things in life. She loved flowers and a good meal. Her family and her church family were as much a part of her life as the very air she breathed. And she was feisty. I imagine appreciation and spunk is what it takes to live until 101 and still have a mind sharp as a tack. Great Grandma never hesitated to tell me she loved me, and she always said grace for us before dinner. I don’t know anyone who can fill her shoes. I am very fortunate I had my great grandmother in my life, and she will always be in my memories as the woman she was and as someone to keep me grounded in the things that matter in our hectic modern world.
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