My dear, sweet, loving Grannie died Thursday, May 14th. She was 97 years old. She was a wonderful grandmother. Born on September 22, 1911, in Bosqueville, Texas, she was the eldest of 7 children, with 2 sisters (Aunts Mary Emma Rayburn and Julianna Rayburn - they married brothers Alvin and Everette Rayburn) and 4 brothers (Uncles Augustus Monroe, Eugene Gates, James Preston, and Robert Wortham). There were 16 years between Grannie and Aunt Jule, and her brothers and sisters loved her dearly, affectionately calling her "Sis." She outlived every single one of them. She went to Mary-Hardin Baylor (then, Baylor College for Women) at the age of 15 to become a teacher. She taught school a total of 40 years, in Waco, Belton and Texas City, where my mom and her brothers were raised.
She and Granddaddy moved to Waco when they retired, moving very near to Grannie's mother and father, Robert Augustus and Julia Anna Potter Woodward. At first they lived in a very small shack, which, once Granddaddy built their house, became his workshop. He was an excellent wood craftsman. Although suffering hearing loss from the years and years of working with the table saw, he was gentle and kind and a lover of sports. He was a teacher as well for 35 years and taught industrial arts, woodshop and drafting, science, and coached football and tennis in Waco, Smithville, and Texas City. He was also an army veteran, where he served as an instructor. They married on June 14, 1941 at First Baptist Church, Bosqueville, Texas. They had three children, my uncles Joseph Clephane Cross, and Robert Woodward Cross. My uncle Joe lives with his wife Gloria in Colorado and my uncle Bobby went to be with the Lord in 2002.
I loved going to Grannie's, anticipating the dusty, rocky roads leading our car the last few miles to her and Granddaddy's house, and I knew that when we could smell the dairy farm across the road, it wasn't much farther. She always sent us cards and cash for our birthdays, and came for every recital and celebration, with goodies in hand from Collin Street Bakery (Corsicana was directly in between our houses in Waco and Tyler).
I have such fond memories of Christmases at her and Granddaddy's house, full to the brim with family, as my two uncles would come with their families, and Grannie's two sisters, who lived within walking distance from her house, would also come with their husbands, children and grandchildren. It was always a full house, and Grannie worked tirelessly, ensuring there were plenty of yummy goodies for everyone.
She and Granddaddy would gather with my great aunts and uncles on many a Fridays to play Eighty-Four, which was great fun. I remember sitting on their laps, trying not to knock over their dominoes, and wondering at the draw of the mysterious, loud game with its bursts of laughter, shouts of unbelief, and chink-chinks of the dominoes as they were played and shuffled.
I remember playing in Grannie's closet, coming out to be admired in my new shoes.
I remember that Grannie would let us play with her Band-aids in her bathroom, and I would come out with a couple of new boo-boos, enjoying the sympathy.
The night Mom was in ICU from gallbladder surgery complications, I remember sitting beside Grannie, both sleepless, as she read Psalm 23 and prayed with me.
I remember all the stuff she and Granddaddy had, children of the Depression era. She had several sets of china, beautiful sets, and all kinds of aluminum dishes, stashed away for that "someday" she might need them. She had a whole, HUGE, closet to store dishes and pans and jars and all kinds of kitchen accessories. And a deep freeze...two of them, in which there were all kinds of frozen things, most of them things that should have been eaten a year or two earlier. :) But plenty of those pinwheel cinnamon rolls for breakfast, the kind you can unroll if you want to (and Grannie never made us just take bites; she let us unroll away.) Her refrigerator was always stocked with "Grannie cheese" - slices of individually wrapped American cheese, just perfect for putting on a paper plate and nuking for a few seconds until it was melted enough to eat with a spoon. (But before you could put it in the microwave, you always had to remove Grannie's coffee, which she had rewarmed hours ago and then forgot.)
She always had Juicy Fruit gum in a jar on the counter, along with Double Mint, but it seems I always wanted Juicy Fruit. Her marshmallows were also in a canister on the counter, accessible to young girls who wanted a fluffy sweet snack. And shoestring potatoes! I could eat the whole can, I'm sure, except that the men watching football, which was ALWAYS blaring from the TV, would balk if I ate them all. Speaking of football, Granddaddy would snooze in his chair as he "watched" the loud game, also simultaneoulsy listening to a different game on the radio he placed on the floor beside his chair. Even when he was asleep, you could ask him the score and he would wake up and tell you!
Grannie and Granddaddy served faithfully in their church, Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco. Granddaddy sang in the choir, and during the sad saga of the Branch Davidian cult, their preacher was on the news (even in Tyler) at least once and we saw Granddaddy up there in the choir loft behind him! He always looked like he was snoozing, but I'm sure he was listening...after all, he did that for football too!
Grannie and Granddaddy were dear, dear grandparents. They loved us, and cared for us, and served us. Best of all, I always knew Grannie was praying for me. What a comfort that has been through the years. In the last few years, her mind deteriorated to the point that she did not recognize us, not even my mother sometimes. Granddaddy passed away in 2000 at the age of 91.
And now Grannie.
They thought she was having blood sugar problems because she did not wake up Thursday morning. But after repeatedly administering meds for that, the nurses at the nursing home began to suspect it was her heart. She was flown via helicopter to the closest hospital since her nursing home was in rural Colorado. But she died in transit.
God gave her a long life with rich memories, but best of all, He gave her His Son. And He gently called her home this week as she slept, so she could awake from this mortal life, from her old body and dim mind, to live in His radiant glory forever, fully cognizant of His beauty and love.
