The Making of a Grandmother Part II

Nobody loved her mother more than my Grammie Muriel loved her beautiful, brown-eyed Irish "Mama".  Her love was so intense that when dear mother Jessie Murphy Nason died in the influenza epidemic, she would allow nobody to prepare her Mama's body for burial. It was in my Grammie's 16th year that she took it upon herself to comb her dead mother's hair and wash her body for burial. It was her last, loving service to her beloved mother.

Years Later:  Here she is with Grandchildren

The world was in turmoil, ravaged by the first world war. The early death of adults and the high mortality incidence of infants was among the harsh realities of life. She told of how a baby sibling died in the winter. The family buried the body of their precious, little one in a hole that was dug in the dirt floor of the machine shed. There was no other way to dispose of the little body. This was a grief that she always carried with her.

Grammie's youngest brother Lawrence was born with a defective urinary tract and did not survive long after the death of his mother. My grand-mother believed that her little brother died of a broken heart after the nurturing arms of his Mamma were no longer there for him. In the age of no antibiotics, there may have been a urinary infection, too.

So many times in the lives of people, the trials and difficulties of life teach them to be compassionate. That was the case with my Grammie. Left with eight younger siblings to care for, my Grandmother took her responsibilities seriously. The protective, surrogate mother-instinct became solidly engraved in Grammie Muriel's heart.

I am certain that Grammie Muriel was the greatest champion of children that I ever knew. She could not bear to hear them cry or to see them disappointed. If a child was troubled it was Grammie to the rescue! If it was at all in her power to provide comfort and peace to a little heart, Grammie Muriel would do it.

This story -- the making of a Grandmother -- is like a Grimm's tale in some ways, for it has its own stepmother.

-- To Be Continued