Tribute to my Grandmother
Happy Birthday Grandma (The Tradition of the Calendar Towel) by David Perry, written at sea aboard "Crystal Symphony" March 31, 1998 A century ago today, near a small farming town called Sontag, in Franklin Country, Virginia, in a farmhouse room lit by kerosene lamps and warmed with generations, an amazing woman was born: My grandmother. 1898. How that year always fascinated me. I would ask again, and again "Grandma, what year were you born?" She would take the pins from her mouth - held there while she sewed on some dress, shirt, pants or blouse for a family member, friend, or client - and tell me. "1898." Exotic it always seemed to me, this loving, living link to another century. Every Christmas morning the entire clan could gather at Grandma Hoard's or "Aunt Mildred's" as she was known to my cousins. There, I would sit at her feet - proudly guarding the tree - and hand out the various presents that cousins and aun...