Grandma Hilda
My Grandmother, Hilda, was born in 1928 In Chattanooga, TN.
As I was growing up I never heard a whole lot about her life as a child.
I knew her mom was a seamstress and her dad would ride the rails looking for work during the depression. At the yearly family reunion hearing lots of funny stories from her brothers and sisters, but not a whole lot about grandma.
Whenever I would ask her about her stories, she would always say “oh I dont remember”. Maybe she forgot, or maybe didnt think her stories were as good as everyone else’s. That is kind of sad to me.
I knew that She met grandpa and they got married and ended up in Michigan and had 5 kids together.
She liked to cook, she liked to eat, she liked to talk to anybody that would listen to her. I knew she grew up playing the piano and was the church pianist for almost 40 years. I don’t think she traveled a whole lot, other than visiting family.
Growing up I had never seen a photo of what she looked like when she was younger. I remember in 3rd grade I found one in a photo album and I thought she was so beautiful. I had never seen my grandma looking like that! The Grandma I knew was old and short and plump and had grey hair.
When I found her headshot from when she was about 20 years old I had never seen anything so glamourous!
She looked like a movie star!
Finding the photos
When Hilda passed in 2016 I went to Michigan for her funeral.
It was there that the treasure trove was revealed as we sat around and looked through photos and talked about grandma.
Many old pictures and memories laid out, boxes and boxes of things I had never seen. Photos of people and events I had completely forgotten.
Then I found this one…
Grandma and her squirrel
Here was my Grandma about 16 or 17 years old, with her squirrel! My aunt said she thought it was her pet, but wasn’t sure.
Never in my life could I have imagined this photo ever existed!
This was not the glamourous movie star photo I had, and it took me completely by surprise.
As I look at this photo, it makes me laugh. I NEVER in a million months of Sundays could have imagined my grandmother letting a squirrel on her shoulder. If you told me she had a pet squirrel you could have knocked me over with a feather.
BUT…
I can see how much my mother and my aunts looked like her. The same eyes and smile.
I can see the fun and playful side of her personality, something I never got to experience a whole lot.
I can see that she and I have the same thick wavy hair with the exact same cowlick in the front, in the exact same spots. ( It’s uncanny)
grateful
I am grateful that I found this photo. It shows me a completely different side to my grandma than I ever knew existed. I realized what I have inherited from her and how similar we really are, something I never thought I would say.
CHALLENGE:
Like every Flashback Friday post I am extending a challenge. Find a photo of an ancestor and post it on social media with a story or memory. Tag #preserveyourtree
Happy Hunting.
