HFCS: effika’s blog

My grandmother died this weekend. I didn’t know that much about her life before I was born, and apparently it held some interesting stories. Not many people remember them too well (her surviving brother is not entirely lucid anymore). I got to hear a few tidbits at the funeral, so I thought I’d write them here.

• My grandmother got into a fight with some member of the Walton family while in college, and shunned anything they touched (Wal-Mart, Arvest, ect…).
• My grandmother married her boss at Western Union, her first job after college. He was ten years her senior.
• My grandmother wore a simple blue dress to her wedding, as it was 1941 and money was tight.
• Western Union was also responsible for keeping my late grandfather out of the war: he had a job that Western Union said nobody else could fill, and continually got him deferments.
• My grandmother never owned a pair of jeans.

I received a beautiful dichroic glass pendant on a sterling silver chain from my grandmother’s jewelry collection after the funeral, and I have no clue how she got it or why. I really wish I knew the story. We’ve yet to divide most of her estate, but I imagine there will be a lot of items that are going to forever be shrouded in mystery.

All of you need to go find your older relatives and write down their stories while you still can.