For the 52 family stories in 52 weeks, the third week is about my favorite photo. I have so many favorite photos, but many include my own children. Thinking back over family pictures I have many that remind me of where I come from. I think my favorite older pictures are the ones that include my grandmother. My grandmother had many brothers and sisters, she was the only one of the kids that went to high school. She wanted to become a nurse, but ended up teaching school (Kindergarten).
My great grandmother, also in this picture came to the US by herself with three children, in order to meet up with my great grandfather who had come to the US first. My great grandfather passed away when my grandmother was only a couple years old. He died of the flu in 1918. My great grandmother went on to raise the children by herself. My grandmother also lost her husband when my mother was only about three.
My grandmother and mother moved in with my great grandmother after my grandfather passed away. To marry my grandfather, they had to elope to Indiana. Teachers at the time were not allowed to be married, so hiding their marriage was the only way for my grandmother to keep working. They lived in a shack that my uncles built for them. My grandfather then drown at a local park while swimming with friends on flag day.
After losing my grandfather, my grandmother did what she could to support the family…. including owning a bar in their local small town. When my step-grandfather met my grandmother, he announced to my uncle he was going to marry her. Her response was ‘Like hell you will’, she had been married to one drunk and wasn’t going to marry another. He proceeded to mostly clean up his act, though there is one story about my grandmother throwing a heavy ashtray at him when he came home drunk. My grandmother proceeded to outlive him also.
