She always wanted everyone to call her, “Grannie.” She became a young Grandmother at 40, so it tickled her that we called her that. It was really cute to hear her 94 year old mother saying, “Come on Grannie.”
She had plenty of stories of being a young girl and going to school where the Nuns were so strict. She would reminisce about hanging around her family’s small grocery store.
Later, as she married and divorced she struggled, but managed, to raise four children on her own and all of them turned out to be pretty good people.
Grannie loved different cultures and people and she loved that her family was very diverse. She was a prime caregiver to many of her Grandchildren and she had something special that she did with each one of them. She carted many of them around and although she would disagree with you, she wasn’t the best driver. Everyone was always safe and sound and got where they needed to go though. About a year ago she was involved in a fender bender and even though the accident was clearly her fault. She would fuss about how “That young kid just plowed into me.” You couldn’t help but smile to yourself every time she said this.
When she lived in Erie she would put on a yearly Christmas party for family. She had personalized gifts for everyone and the neighbor that played Santa had a suit that the real Santa would surely envy.
She loved to make crafts of all kinds and she was very creative. She was an avid knitter and everyone in the family would have hats, scarves, afghans and slippers. She greatly enjoyed knitting lots of hats and donating them to various charities, especially those that benefited children.
The Billy Blanks Foundation would always receive her assistance with whatever she could do to help. Whether it was with sending out thousands of care packages to our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan or wrapping gifts for under privileged kids for Christmas, Grannie was willing to pitch right in there and be of service in any way that she could.
Grannie LOVED to watch television and it was usually on 24/7. She would always say that she had traveled the world from the comfort of her home. Some of her favorite shows were Court TV, CSI type programs and true murder mysteries. She also enjoyed watching any shows that had people falling or getting hurt. If she saw you hurt yourself she was notorious for not containing her laughter. She couldn’t even help you if you needed it because she was too busy bent over with tears of laughter flowing from her eyes.
Grannie was a terrible cook and she would always admit to it. Yet, she made the best Christmas cookies and donuts. So that her feelings wouldn’t be hurt though, one of her children protested them by throwing them behind the rose bushes in the garden.
The most despicable thing that she ever made was something called “Tomato Aspect.” To tease her we all called it, “Tomato Asbestos.” It was a vile mix of lemon jello (so it would coagulate), tomato juice, shrimp, onion and olives with a dash of Worchester sauce. Yes, you heard it right. This concoction was a source of belly laughs at every picnic as a newcomer would politely try a taste. The resulting opinion was that it was, “confusing to the palate” or “ interesting?”(asked as a question!). With the right person it would be an outright gag reflex, much to all of our delight, as she would watch in faux horror. She would then proclaim that none of us knew what we were talking about.
Grannie sure had an irreverent, funny and at times wicked, sense of humor. Nothing was off limits! She loved her celebrity gossip magazines and something that amused her and us, was that she would circle things that she spotted that made her chuckle. Sometimes she would leave captions that would always make you laugh. It was usually someone’s crooked, jacked up toes, knobby knees or dirty finger nails. She would also, always, be the one to spot someone’s unusually large ears or a long stray hair emerging from someone’s nose.
Grannie left behind her Bichon, Buddy Dog, who she fed Dots, cheese and just about anything else that he wanted. She also had a Pug named, Boss and he was her shadow. For many years she had a Golden Retriever that she acquired from her son and daughter in law. She sure loved her, Andy Dog and always hoped to have another Golden.
She adored her best friend Esperanza.
Everyone that met or knew Grannie thought that she was pretty cool and she got a kick out of this. The older she got the more outrageous she became. She would throw out zingers and one-liners and she reveled in seeing the shock on your face. After you would laugh at her audacity, she would say. “I love getting older because I can say anything I want. You will all just have to chalk it up to senility and get over it.”
Grannie, we all love you so very much and even though we will miss you, you live in each one of our hearts. We find comfort in knowing that you are at rest and peace and that you are in His arms eternally.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18