My Paternal Grandma - (Grandma Ruthie)

Unfortunately my brothers and sisters and I never had the opportunity to meet our Grandma Ruthie, she passed away when she was 35 yrs. old. She left behind 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls, and a husband who loved her with a passion so deep that when the love of his life died he took all that was hers and he burned it, including any and all photos. My Grandfather wanted no reminders. The pain was too deep for him. I often wondered as I got older how he felt being surrounded by the 4 reminders that his Ruthie had unwillingly left behind.

All our lives we loved this woman of mystery. We clung to the tiny bits and pieces of memories strewn about our lives in quiet conversation between our Grandfather and our Dad or our Dad and our Aunts and Uncles, and still we knew very little... They knew very little.

Our Father was only 5 yrs. old when his Momma had passed. He remembered her as kind, loving and he remembered that she laughed a lot. He remembered that she was pretty, tall, had long, dark, wavy hair and that she and his Dad, despite their height difference, Grandma Ruthie was 5'10", Grandpa only 5'7", loved to dance. He remembered that it was his brother and sisters job to roll the livingroom carpet back and that it was his job, as a baby boy of 3 and 4, to crank the record player to spin the records. In later years our Father would cry telling this story... He said he was so little and his arms would get so tired cranking that old record player but he said, "we loved to watch them dance."

We loved and missed our Grandma Ruthie all of our lives but our Father loved her and missed her so much more... And as he neared the end of his he said, as he lay in his hospital bed dying, "Take my shoes off, my brother Joe is coming to get me, he's taking me to see my Mom and Dad."

I would've given anything to see my Father run into the open, waiting, loving arms of his Momma after all these many years. His Momma, our Grandma Ruthie... We all loved her, we love her still...

This was Grandma Ruthie n' Grandpa's song. Enjoy.