Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Grandmother Jackson, Stories From My Mom



Grandmother was a very hard worker.  She loved to work in the kitchen.  She was an excellent cook.  One of my favorite things that she would make was a pineapple cake.  She taught me how to make the “7 minute icing” and the pineapple syrup that went on top.  We always had that cake at special events when I was growing up. 

She was also an excellent seamstress.  She made the most beautiful quilts that we all still enjoy today.  She made them out of old dresses of ours.  She made us each a baby quilt, a quilt when we were about 14 and another when we were married.  These quilts took her about a year to make.  She did them all by hand.

Grandmother never got a driver’s license.  She never drove a car.  She was always so calm and I used to tell her it was because she never had to drive and deal with traffic.

She was very practical and felt that you should “make do” with what you had.  I remember when I was planning my wedding, there was a lady who wanted to charge over $100 to make me a vale.  Grandmother, who hardly ever spoke above a whisper, laughed out loud.  I remember we were all shocked.

Grandmother never joined the church in this life.  Grand daddy had died pretty early in life and I think that was part of the reason.  She came to church every Sunday and everyone in the ward loved her and called her Grandmother.  She lived with us from the time I was about 12.  She lived to be 96.  When she died, we all went to do her sealing to Grand daddy.  It was a rushed day and there was some confusion about the paperwork in the temple.  It seemed a little chaotic especially for the temple and I remember asking the sealer to please stop for a minute so I could tell them something about Grandmother.  I said “Grandmother never rushed in her life.  I don’t think she would like this sealing to be rushed.”  Then I told them about how she loved to quilt and how she loved her family more than anything in the world.  I really felt like Grandmother was there and everything seemed to settle down.  I think she would have liked that.


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