This week we said goodbye to Ginny, just 10 days short of her 97th birthday. Looking back through letters Ginny’s friends sent to celebrate her 80
th
birthday, they describe her as “lovely”; “vibrant”; “sparkle and joy”; “elegance
and grace”. A “good friend”, a “gentle lady”.
“Beauty of smile and spirit”; “loving heart and ready wit”. There were
also the comments like “naughty but nice”, “mischievous”, and mention of skinny
dipping and the Playboy club.
All of those qualities shone through in her role as my loving
grandmother.
She set aside a dresser
drawer at her house for us, and there we could always count on finding some new
treasure -- those free stickers that arrived in the mail from Easter Seals, a
flea market find, or a new card game from Glebe House where Ginny volunteered
as a docent. My favorite game to play at her house was shoe store. I would take
all the shoes out of her closet (and she had a lot), line them up on the
stairs, and she would come to my store to try to patiently try them all on,
eventually finding the perfect pair to go with her outfit.
We would often go visit 99 year old Aunt Nida
on the farm down the street for tea parties with a little bit of tea and a lot
of cookies.
I’d like to think some great
wisdom was imparted during those afternoons, but mostly I remember the cookies.
When bedtime rolled around, I got to sleep in her room with one of her collection
of teddy bears and rather than read a book she would make up bed time stories
that always featured a little girl named Kate.
Ginny was an expert seamstress, and helped my mom make many of our Halloween
costumes over the years (always in matching themes for Kendall, Andrew, and I),
as well as my navy polka dot 8th grade dance dress. Before I went off to
college, she prepared me with cooking lessons and I learned to make the
essentials-- casserole and sloppy joe's and italian wedding cake. We became
good correspondents, writing letters to each other as long as she could see.
I feel very fortunate that my children got to know Ginny. Even at 96, she
could play hide and seek and roughhouse with Logan, or have a pretend picnic on
the floor with Amelie.
She always had
cookies to offer them on a little saucer, stuffed animals to play with, and
lots of hugs and love. I’m comforted by the fact that I know she lived a
long, good life, and was ready to go. I’d like to think that she was welcomed
home by Poppy and Uncle Kent and her brother and sisters and they’re all
together today at some fashionable party (which may or may not involve skinny
dipping) drinking cocktails and laughing over old stories and shining down on
us.
 |
| Me, Ginny, & Poppy, 1980 |
 |
| Ginny & I, 1981 |
 |
| Me, Ginny, & Kendall, 1984 |
 |
| Me & Ginny before my 8th grade dance, 1992 |
 |
| Me, Ginny, & Kendall when they visited me in Florence during my semester abroad, 1999 |
 |
| Ginny & Logan, 2011 |
 |
| Ginny & Logan, Halloween 2012 |
 |
| Ginny & newborn Amelie, 2013 |
 |
| Ginny & Amelie, 2013 |
 |
| Ginny's 95th birthday, 2013 |
 |
| Ginny & Amelie at Christmas, 2013 |
 |
| Ginny & Amelie, 2014 |
 |
| Logan & Ginny rough-housing, 2014 |
 |
| Ginny & Amelie in their Easter best, 2014 |
 |
| Cheers! 2014 |
 |
| Ginny, Amelie, & Logan, 2014 |
