We rarely saw them when I was growing up - they lived in Nashville and we lived pretty much everywhere but Nashville. We stayed with them when my sister was born. I remember that night, but that is a bad memory of my father. The good memories include the ditch in their backyard. I was ten years old and it was like my own park!
Then we moved away again and I didn’t see them for several years. We were living in Hawai’i and my parents separated, so we moved in with my uncle in Hunstville, AL for a few months. Saw them a little then.
I was a big fan of Muhammad Ali and my Grandad was not. March 8, 1971 Ali fought Joe Frazier. Ali lost. I still remember the card my Grandad sent me exulting in his defeat. Even though I was upset by the loss, it was actually pretty funny.
After my Dad died in my junior year we moved back to Nashville in 1972. Saw them a lot then! Actually, when we relocated to Nashville we moved in with them. They had a small three bedroom house, one of which had been converted into an office. The two of them were suddenly joined by the six of us!! Culture shock for everyone!
Obviously this little house on Harper Place in Donelson was not big enough for eight people. When we lived in Hawai’i we had a three bedroom house for the eight of us (mom, dad, six children), but that was different. And it must’ve been a little bigger, because we didn’t fit in their house. So from someone they got a little camper, parked it in their backyard, and (at least) me and my brother slept in that camper the first summer we were there. I actually liked that. And I still remember watching “Dialing for Dollars” movies weekday mornings.
My grandmother worked in a doctor’s office and managed to bring home all kinds of medicine samples. In one corner of her cabinet, under the counter, she had a Lazy Susan full of medicines! She also had no sense of direction. She would literally be lost a block away from her house. I always wondered how she managed to find her way to work every morning.
Grandmother playing skittle bowl. We spent many an hour playing skittle bowl in their garage. The next door neighbors would come over and sit in the door of the garage and we would all play skittle bowl, my Grandmother nursing a beer and my Grandad his Coke and Old-Grandad. These are such good memories!
After that summer, we rented a house on Donna Hill Court, some 5 miles away. Then my mother bought a house on Hurt Dr and we were just two, maybe three blocks up the road. We spent a lot of time together then.
I graduated from high school in 1973. January of 1974 I went off to college in Martin (University of Tennessee at Martin). Shortly after this my mother and family moved to California and then I was married in 1975. Once again, I didn’t see them for many years, until they and my mother moved to Murray, KY. I saw them a couple of times while they were living in Murray.
One day my Grandad and I were sitting at the kitchen table and he told me about my father and his abusive treatment of me. I don’t remember much of my first ten years of life and was always very tentative when faced with new things - a light went on in my spirit that day.
My Grandmother used to make lemon ice box pies for Grandad. They were so good. Imagine the honor I felt when one day, while we were visiting in Murray, she called me over to her house and presented me with a lemon ice box pie!
They both passed away in Murray and were interred in Nashville. My mother chose to not tell me about this until afterward, so on one of my trips to Murray, we (Mary K, Erica, and me) stopped by the grave site to pay our respects.
Yes, this one photo brought back these and other memories of my Grandad and Grandmother. I loved them. I miss them.
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