This is my great grandmother at approx. age 17. She told my grandfather that she made the ribbons in her hair out of 17 yards of fabric. I just love this photo of her. She is a young innocent farm girl with no idea of the kind of life that awaited her.
This picture is the way I remember her. She passed away at the ripe young age of 94, just a few months after she taught me to tat. Lately, I have been hearing stories from other family members about how she tried to teach them to tat. I was the only one who learned. I remember her standing up in church, in front of everybody, telling all who would listen how I learned to tat. As a sixteen-year-old at the time I was really embarrassed, but thinking back on it now, it makes me smile.
My Great Grandmother was a remarkable woman in every way. I remember her being dynamic even in her old age. She was not one for sitting still and I can still hear her saying, "Idol hands are the Devil's playground."
She did not have an easy life. She had eight children, my grandfather being 6th in line. Her husband was an abusive alcoholic who abandoned the family shortly after the birth of the last child. She raised her kids on her own and worked hard and long at several jobs to keep food on the table.
She loved the Lord and was a popular Sunday school teacher. She was also a member of the WCTU "Woman's Christian Temperance Union". I guess she was pretty lively about breaking up the Bar crowd. Understandable since she endured so much heartache because of alcohol.
I miss her. I will be dedicating my first tatting book to her memory and I hope to include some of her poetry....yes, she was a poet too!
3 comments:
This is so sweet. What precious pictures and memories! Keep remembering and writing. I think she passed on much more than her tatting skills to you!
That's so sweet! I loved hearing about your Great grandmother, thanks for sharing!
Your story of her made me both smile AND get teary-eyed :) my paternal grandmother taught me how to shuttle tat :)
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