my step grandmother

Grandma T was part of the package that came with my step father.

Someone said you do not mary a person you marry a family. Well she was part of that.

Grandma T was a short, somewhat stocky, but a powerful woman. Even when they were adults her sons did not cross her.

She claimed lineage from Ben Franklin through a lot of people I did not know, and the Franklin story most likely was true.

My dad was the youngest of 4 boys. They were a very competitive bunch, making sure that no one got a bigger piece of pie, and so on.

When Dad was 12 his father went a way and never returned. I do not know if any one knows where he went, but I have never hears a scratch about it. Grandma T could easily have blocked any contact.

Two of the boys married very young, had babies with their young brides, then on grandma’s insistence they divorced and had NO contact with the two kids or the mothers until after Grandma T died, and she lived a LONG time.

As I thought about it, years ago, it seemed to some make sense that Grandpa T had hit the road. I am sure Grandma could be a difficult lady.

She did come stay with us a couple of months once, I think when my brother was born. She would get up quite early and go into the only bathroom we had, and stay there for a good hour or more. She would shower and dress and groom in the bathroom.

At 11, like all little boys, when I woke up I really really needed to pee, and NOW, but that was the only bathroom. It got pretty miserable sometimes.

Her 4 boys did pretty well. The oldest was a promotor, a wheeler dealer, but he was anchored by the most wonderful wife you could imagine. She was a grade school teacher and that kept him from going too far.

Once he called Dad and asked him to come where he was living and build a couple of houses. “Are we going.” I asked. “No, for all I know he might be talking about a couple of dog houses.” But years later dad and mom moved to Massachusetts from Idaho to work with uncle on one of his projects.

The next son owned a truck body shop in San Francisco. He made good money. His wife was the role model for the “My Fair Lady” mother-in-law: “who had a voice that could shatter glass.” Aunt was a good woman but she had that voice.

The third so was a golf pro early in his life. This was before TV and I imagine the whole thing was different then than now. He won a lot of tournaments, made a lot of money and spent it all, my dad said. He worked as a carpenter when I knew him.

Then there was step dad. He worked on the Alaska HIghway during WWII, he learned carpentry while he was in high school, he was a truck driver and owner, he ran a donut shop in New York City, he owned an airplane. He was a superb mechanic. He could be a bit discouraging, but he could be a good guy too.

Later, I’ll write about the bakery oven that Grandma T had tucked into her garage.