In Memory of Grandma Alice

Grandma Alice

1911-1997

cute angel wearing a hat

These are some of the wonderful memories I have of my Grandma. I sure remember many fine times we had there when my sisters and I were kids!

pink flower bulletShe cooked us delicious food, which included the best oatmeal raisin cookies I have ever had in my life. I have never been able to make oatmeal cookies quite as good as those!

She let us dress up in her clothes when my sisters and I were kids!

pink flower bulletTook us to a restaurant called Sun Garden when we were little. We considered this a big treat!

pink flower bulletTook us to an ice cream place called Farrell's, where if you ordered certain menu items, or if you had a birthday, they would run around the restaurant, blow whistles, sound a siren, and cause a big ruckus! There was one menu item called a Zoo.  It was a big bowl filled with many different kinds of ice cream. They would run all around the restaurant with two guys holding it. One time they almost didn't make it around a corner!  They slipped and almost dropped it!! (The linked restaurant is in California, but they used to be in Milwaukee, too.  The picture of the interior looks just like the restaurant I remember as a child!)

pink flower bulletShe usually had candy in her little candy dish (often gumdrops or Brach's mix).  Many times she had Pep-O-Mint Lifesavers, too.  I can taste that same peppermint taste in my mouth and go right back to my childhood in an instant!!

pink flower bulletShe let me can tomatoes with her once.

pink flower bulletGrandma baked really good oatmeal-raisin cookies and banana cake.

pink flower bulletIndulged me occasionally with pork and sauerkraut which I didn't get at home! pink flower bulletMy sisters and I liked it when she made ham dinners with mashed potatoes. Also, for any special family meal, she usually had a relish tray with olives and spiced apple rings. I usually liked the apple rings!

pink flower bulletMade me feel special when I came for overnights by myself.

pink flower bulletShe also made delicious homemade pickles, jelly, and potato sausage!

pink flower bulletUsed to tell stories about her life on the farm in the early 1900's and how she used to bring strangers home for supper!

pink flower bulletLoved to plant white alyssum in the flower gardens around her house. The alyssum in my own flower garden reminded me of her the other day as I stood there with the hose watering my flowers. I love the little white flowers!

pink flower bulletI remember going to their house at Christmas time.  They always had a silver tabletop tree.  Since you can't put lights on a metallic tree, they had a light on the floor that had three different color lenses that rotated in front of it in red, blue, and green.  I loved watching the different colors come over the tree as the light rotated.  I can't remember if the tree rotated, too or not.  Sometimes we went to their house on Christmas Eve to eat and open presents.  Then my family would go to church on the way home. When I was younger, they would come to our house on Christmas Eve, after my mom and my sisters had gone to church because we all sang in the choir.  My dad and my grandparents would play "Santa Claus" while we were gone.  Then they would come to church.  When we all got home from church after the candlelight service, all of the presents would have "magically" appeared.  It was always fun to come back from church to find the presents all under the tree!  Then we would eat and open presents.

Grandma died in October 1997. She and Grandpa had just celebrated 62 years of marriage in September 1997. He took care of her himself until the last 6 weeks or so. She went downhill rather quickly after she went into the nursing home. I think she wanted to still be home with Grandpa! It was hard to watch Alzheimer's disease take over my Grandma! She certainly liked and enjoyed a variety of activities, before the Alzheimer's took over.

I talked to my Grandpa the other day, and he reminded me how much Grandma loved to can tomatoes. He would raise the tomatoes and she would can them. They both enjoyed eating them in the winter. She canned tomatoes and made pickles every year while she was able to. Those pickles were good, too!

pink flower bar

Click here to read a poem about Grandmas!

pink flower bar

Previous

Skip Prev5

List Prev 5

Next

Skip Next 5

List Next 5

List All Random Site Join!

This RingSurf F.A.I.T.H. Webring is owned by DawnK