Grandma Summers

Lucile Margaret Summers

Grandma's House - Pattonsburg, Missouri

Taken on Grandma & Grandpa's 65th Wedding Anniversary

November 11, 1998

The only picture I have of the kids with all my Grandparents - 1987.

Grandpa, Grandma & Andrea - around 2001.

Taken in Grandma's living room when Chuck & I were dating- 1981.

The living room still looked about the same 20 years later.

The classics never go out of style.

A candid picture I took of Grandma with my instamatic camera in the late 70's.

This is my favorite picture of my Grandma and how I will always remember her--laughing and in her kitchen.

In my last post, I mentioned Andrea turned 24 on March 8th. March 8th was also my Grandma Summers birthday. Grandma and Andrea were born exactly 70 years apart.

It seems like I have very few pictures of Grandma. She was the kind of person who always stayed in the background and never drew attention to herself. While I was taking pictures, she was probably in the kitchen rolling out home-made noodles or making fresh apple cake (she always made apple cake for Chuck since it was his favorite).

Grandma was a gentle soul. She was the smartest woman I've ever known but also the humblest. I never heard her say a negative thing about anybody--even people I knew she didn't particularly respect. She was kind, patient and generous with her lap.

As a child, I was a very picky eater. I hated most breakfast foods, especially oatmeal and eggs. Rather than forcing me to eat what was on the table, Grandma would always make me a grilled cheese sandwich. To this day, whenever I go out to breakfast, I still order a grilled cheese sandwhich.

When Angela and I spent the night, as a treat Grandma would make popcorn by pouring oil in her cast iron skillet and sprinkling in some popcorn. I can still hear the sound that skillet made as she scraped in back and forth. She'd melt some butter, shake on some salt and pour it in a pink plastic bucket I think came from a hospital stay. We took the bucket out to the living room and dipped out individual servings into small brown bowls to eat in front of the television, usually Bonanza or Gunsmoke. Popcorn and Pepsi still make me think of Grandma.

I have so many good memories of my Grandma and no bad ones. How many people can you say that about?

Grandma always had time for me. When I was little, I would beg Grandma to play "Bill Grogan's Goat" on the piano and she would play and sing. It was my favorite song and it went like this as best as I can remember: "Bill Grogan's goat, was feeling fine, ate three red shirts, right off the line. Bill took a stick, gave him a whack, and tied him to the railroad track. The whistle blew, the train grew nigh, Bill Grogan's goat was doomed to die. He gave a cough of mortal pain, coughed up those shirts and flagged the train".

It was an exciting song! It became my goal to learn to play such entertainment so Grandma drove me to piano lessons and endured hours of me pounding on the keys. Sheer determination did not overcome my lack of talent. I think of all the times over the years I've yelled at my kids, "be quite" or "turn that down" or "go outside if you want to make that noise". Yet my Grandma never complained once about all the noise I made. I wish I had inherited more of her qualities.

I still can't play the piano. But I will always remember sitting next to Grandma on the piano bench, singing.