Some Silliness with my G’ma Ruth
My Grandma Ruth is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She worked as a social worker her whole life and still goes out of her way every day to help those in need. She drives around her friends who can’t drive any more, lends people her cell phone, volunteers at her church, plans and coordinates who knows how many different activities, participates in politics, for an Alzheimer’s call center, is part of a cremation society, goes to museums and plays, takes spanish classes, travels, and so much more. One of my fondest memories as a child of my grandmother is listening to her tell “Little Witch” stories that she made up, which is fitting since she was born on Halloween. My grandma was one of very few women who earned a masters degree from Columbia in the late 40’s I think it would have been and I might be wrong but she might not have even been out of her teens. The story is that when she first applied to Columbia she was only 16 and they told her she was too young and should take a year to do other things. So my Grandma went and worked on an Indian reservation in North Dakota doing social work. Apparently at one point she had to be hospitalized for being malnourished on account of only eating a piece of toast, an egg, and a snickers bar every day. While that obviously wasn’t a smart or healthy eating habit, my Grandma is very, very wise and smart and is the only person who corrects my grammar constantly enough that I think I may have just finally gotten it all right.
I feel very honored to have been so close with my Grandma and I hope we have many more years of stories and activities together.
For those family members who might read this please feel free to correct my stories or share one of your own about grandma Ruth.
