Memories

All morning I have been thinking of my sweet little grandmas.  Both of my grandmas passed on quite a while ago. They were both strikingly different, one lived in town and the other lived on a farm.  I would like to share some stories about them, in a blog series called "Memories",  that are so inspiring and demonstrate how amazing they were.  Today, I would like to tell you about my "Town Grandma".   I remember this grandma was an "old grandma", she was born on August  24, 1879,  so when I was almost 6 ( just before she passed on) she was in her 70's.  Even though she died just before my 6th birthday it is amazing how much I remember about her.  Maybe it was because she was truly my best friend. 

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 This is a picture of my grandma and her 5 sisters.  My grandma is on the top row on the right.

I want to share a story about her from the early 1900's

The year was 1913, Katie Nye Hodgkinson was a young mother of  two little boys.  She and her husband was a happy family living in a small little cabin just off the main road of 500 East in Vernal Utah.   One day her husband Albert receives a letter from the LDS church headquarters which ask if he would serve a  two year full-time mission in the eastern states of Kentucky and Tennessee.   Back in those days they served their missions without purse or script. This meant that they went without money and very little previsions,  mainly the cloths on their back.  While my Grandfather was gone serving his mission. My Grandma lived with her two little boy in her cabin alone.  She was a very resourceful woman. During that time, she would take in laundry and ironing to provide for her little family.  One evening she was in her cabin getting the boys ready for bed.  She heard a noise coming from outside, a screeching  howling sound. She goes to the front door, opens it, in the darkness she could see an object with a long tail running down the road.  She couldn't tell exactly what it was, but she was very frightened and protective of her two little boys.   The next morning she heard from her neighbor, Mr. Sessions, that when he came home the night before he had seen a mountain lion around his house.  This one small story is an example of strength  and courage to me,  my grandma (whom I called Gram) had the ability to endure hardship, served others with faith and love, and endured to the end with dignity.

Because our heritage is so important to us, we like to display them throughout our home, This is a memory box that my daughter made for a 4-H project.   She took a preshaped box that you get from the craft store.  She tore up small pieces of scrapbook paper and Modge-Podged them to the box.  She also Modge-Podged the picture.  (It was a picture I scanned on to my computer and printed ) Then she  embellished it with lace.  She got a purple ribbon at our local county fair and a blue ribbon from the state fair. Do any of you have amazing stories of your ancestors? Leave a comment and tell us about them. We would love to read them.