My Amazing Grandma Lived to 105: Her Story, in Her Words

My Hero

Anytime someone asks me who my hero is, I can answer without hesitation.  My hero was, is, and always will be my Grandma Hazel.  Grandma Hazel was born on September 8, 1904.  She passed away just three months shy of her 106th birthday in 2010. 

From her I learned positivity, perseverance, determination…and the list goes on and on.  Grandma not only survived three husbands, she was also a cancer survivor.  Oh, did I mention that she also survived a heart attack and lived another thirty fulfilling years after this occurred?  She kept her attitude positive and hopeful, and she instilled that positivity to anyone that was lucky enough to know her.

  Grandma Hazel made her own wine, and drank it, too!  She believed that staying active was key, and walked a mile every day until she was well over one hundred years old.  When she was 99, she was hit by a car while out on her daily walk.  Miraculously, she suffered only a few minor cuts and bruises and was back to walking just a few days later. 

Although grandma only had one child (my dad), she was “grandma” to many people.  Each of us were truly blessed to have her in our lives. 

Grandma Hazel lived in her own apartment until she was 105 years old, caring for herself.  Although her mind was still perfect, her body was worn out.  She made the decision herself to live out her last few months in a care facility. 

We found the following reminiscence in some of her papers when we cleaned out her apartment.  My brother’s son Josh had asked grandma to tell him about the “good ole days”, and she did just that by handwriting this treasure of words.   This is an almost exact transcription of what she wrote , punctuation and spelling errors intact.  We love you, grandma.

Grandma’s story

Well, Josh, you always wanted to know about the good ole days-

I remember living in the country-down in Southern Illinois.  I had one brother, Eldo-three years older than me-no electric lights-no paved roads- no tractors, cars, or trucks-but horses, wagons, buggys, water in wells- used buckets.  I remember one old white horse named Barney, he always pulled the buggy-I’d sit in the seat (one seat) between my dad and mother and Eldo would sit on a stool at their feet. Away we’d go to Grandpa’s house-John and Mary Henry- my mother’s (Cora) parents.  They lived a few miles away in a log house with a big fireplace-with a kitchen and a big enamel cook stove with a warming oven up on top and a reservoir on rear end for some “kinda” warm water.  Then kind of a porch deal on back with a big table-always had a white oil cloth on it and after each meal it was reset and covered with a big white tablecloth-ready to eat again.  Guess what I remember most? Grandpa sat at one end of table and there was a sugar bowl of brown lumpy sugar-Grandma sat at other end and there was a bowl of white sugar. Guess what; us kids all wanted to sit by Grandpa- the lumps of brown sugar was so good! Then there was another room with two or more beds-big high soft feather beds, but in the living room was grandpa and grandma’s bed. He’d go to bed early and I do mean early-but he also got up early-but we could all sit by the fireplace and have popcorn-which they grew-or maybe make taffy, a candy we made and pulled-fun-and if we got too noisy, Grandpa would say “Tut, Tut” and that meant quiet down, ha! And we did-for a while anyway. Grandpa had a big orchard-apples, peaches, and plums.

In the fall, my cousins and their parents came and everyone picked, and peeled, with an apple peeler and made gallons of apple butter that was cooked for hours with a bonfire in a huge copper kettle(inside) and black iron on outside- and us kids had to take turns stirring with a long handled wooden stirrer-had to have the long handle so that hot bubbling butter didn’t pop on us.

Also, Christmas was a great time there. I always got a doll-black hair and eyes and my cousin Mabel Lane-3 years older that I-always got the blonde blue eyed one cause they matched our coloring. Oh how I wanted a blonde doll!  Ha! I remember another year I got a set of play dishes and my brother Eldo got a knife and he wished he’d got dishes; prettier than a knife.  Then I got twin brothers-Earl and Burl- but Burl died when they were three months old-so there I was growing up between two brothers. I tried to do everything they did I guess- I remember we had a goat and I had a “banty hen”. I got in trouble with the hen- I sneaked her under the oil cloth on the table at dinner time and just as my dad was asking the blessing, Hen got away from me and jumped on the table- I grabbed her and said “Damn Hen” and my dad said “you and Hen better leave the table” and went ahead praying.  Hen didn’t come to dinner anymore.

Then I got a sister, Goldie.  We had an old black cow named Goldie. Ha! Ha! But we loved her and when she was about one year old we moved by train about 150 miles or so to Argenta, Illinois-more north Central Illinois.  Us kids had never seen a stranger until train got into Decatur, Illinois and there we had to visit and change trains to go on 12 more miles. Goldie was so cute in her red coat and cap and Eldo and I were afraid the strangers would take her. And then as she grew bigger and bugged us, we wished we’d let them have her! Ha Ha!

Before we moved North we rode stick horses, played on mud roads, teeter totters cause we lived in the country and our folks had cows, horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, and guineas and we gathered eggs and fed pigs- boys learned to milk cows, I really never did- mother did if dad was gone.  We grew corn and oats and broom corn and cane for molasses.  Each year when the broom corn was cut and made into brooms, I got a little broom.  Also cane was taken to the mill and made into molasses and everyone got a barrel of molasses-oh so good- no ginger bread was ever as good as the old “sorghum molasses” made.  Then too we gathered black walnuts and hickory nuts and “Hazel nuts” known as filberts I think now; butchered and cured all our own meat-fried the sausage and poured the grease over it- you never tasted anything so good.  Then, everything was canned-fruit and berries that grew wild-just go out and pick them.

We went to church and Sunday school in the buggy and in the evening for entertainment we played checkers and dominoes, popped corn, made taffy and popcorn balls. My dad sang and played French Harp and we’d all sing along. Remember, no electricity, just coal oil (kerosene) lamps, and they had to be filled and cleaned and if the wick was too high they smoked. As I grew older I had curling irons-stick it in the lamp shades to heat and then curl my hair-got lots of burned hair and fingers.

Way out there in the country we didn’t go to school regular. After we moved up North into town, regular school 9 months a year, lived near our Dad’s parents- John and Sarah Grider- grandma sick most of the time and grandpa grouchy. He was in the Civil War-played fife and the thing I remember about him playing the song “Girl I Left Behind”.  So I’ve always wondered maybe when he went to war there was a special girl who wasn’t there when he came back. Guess it did and has happened.  Had some aunts there- Etta and Myrtle- I’m her namesake. Ha! Ha! So we got to know our cousins there- now I have no idea where they all are anymore although some are dead I know.

But as I grew up along came my sister Goldie, 7 years younger that me-living in the small town of Argenta, Illinois- My dad did farm work all his life and my mother was a mid-wife. We had a great time and good neighbors- always went to church and of course knew everyone in town and most in country for miles around.

This is where her handwritten story ends…but what a story she had. 🙂