my maternal granny raised 4 kids in Missouri, moved to San Diego and did a bit of quilting and became quite deaf and grumpy..after her husband died in 1945, she mostly moped and complained until she died about 1953 at only 63 or so. I wish I had known her well when she was younger.

My father's mother, on the other hand, was on the go constantly--raised 3 boys in Pennsylvania (Western, near Pittsburg) and traveled all over the country in the 1909-1915 era...to Texas, California, Nevada (I have postcards she sent!)... Then in about 1916, the family moved to Oklahoma so my grandfather could try working in the new oil fields. My grandmother had her youngest son still in her lap and kept house in this mansion...see the top part of this picture (my father is on the right)...the oil business didn't work out, so they moved to Lost Springs, Kansas, where Granddad started farming and Grandma ran the local hotel (scroll down to bottom of the picture...Grandma and her boys are on the far right)...One amazing fact is that she had all her teeth pulled when she was in her 20s, and used ONE set of false teeth the rest of her life.

Grandma was a regular in the Methodist church (Rebecca Lodge) and later remarried and ran a boarding house and gardened...and did everything that needed to be done. One time we drove up to visit and found her on the roof of the back porch, fixing shingles. She was 77 at the time. She told stories, kept house, was pillar of her little community, and had a MEAN throwing arm...."Oh?", you ask.....well, once when my father was about 14, she had just baked a cake for her church, and was peeling apples for a pie, when Dad and a couple of his friends came in. One of the boys was a smartalec, and wanted some cake...she said "No...that's off limits"...but as they turned to leave, he reached and grabbed a chunk right out of the middle of the cake and headed for the door ..and grandma saw him!....Without thinking, she turned and THREW the apple corer she had been using (two little prongs on the tip) and stuck it right in the wrist holding the cake! As she gasped at what she had done, the boy slowly put the cake back, plucked the corer from his wrist..(it wasn't too deep) and snuck out....and story of Mrs. Day and her wicked arm became legend in Emporia, Kansas.
She lived to see me graduate from high school, and died at 84 in the early spring of 1958, after a very short illness, right after complaining that she should be home getting her garden ready to win the 'first tomato of the year' award again.....