I was a young grown woman, married with two young
daughters before I met my grandmother Edith in person
for the first time. Oops! Take that back. I did meet my
grandmother when I was six months old. Funny...I cannot
remember that first meeting.

My grandmother Edith was widowed and living in Vermont
in 1960 when my husband Ronny, brother Fred and I drove
to Williamstown to bring her to North Reading, Massachusetts
where my mom and dad lived. Mom was delighted that her mother
could visit. My grandmother was happy to see her six
grandchildren and hold her two great-granddaughters,
Nancy and Rhonda.

My eldest daughter Nancy was born in 1958
and her sister Rhonda was born in 1960. My sons Patrick,
Michael and James were born in 1962, 1963, and 1965.
By the time I was twenty seven years of age, I had five
" angels".
My mom called her children and grandchildren "angels".
My grandmother Edith had died the month before Patrick was
born. She had come for another visit in 1961. I was pregnant
for my third child when she visited.
"Good-bye, see you next year for another visit ",
I told her. Grandmother Edith said, "I will not see you
next year. I will not be able to make it. Oh, by the way, you
are having a boy baby."
Grandmother Edith died in January 1962.

Mom aged Six.

Me aged six months.

When my mother married my father Fred in 1937,
my grandmother Edith was living in Vermont with her
husband and son Norman. Mom had just graduated from
high school that year and had gone to Reading,
Massachusetts to visit with her step-sister Dorothy.
She liked to help her sister by babysitting her two
nephews and niece. She had known my father when she was
a young girl growing up in Reading. My father was Dorothy's
husband Dick's brother. My mother had six children by her
marriage to Fred. I am the eldest of them.

My mom and dad had a great
garden on my grandfather's property in Reading, Massachusetts.
Mom and dad grew many vegetables in this garden.
The garden was a great place to play. My grandfather
had a lot of land and several of my uncles and aunts also
had planted gardens for themselves. Our garden was right
across from my grandfather's.

This picture was taken on Easter Day,1969 in front of my
parents' home. My grandparents had sold their farm to the
town of Reading to build a new highschool and had moved to
North Reading in 1952. My parents bought a house
in North Reading in 1958 when I was married.
Their house had five rooms and a good size yard to
plant a vegetable garden and floral border
gardens.
My husband and I also bought a house in North Reading in
1962. We had several flower borders
and a small vegetable garden. I had three pink
climbing roses
on trellises with a small bird house attached to the top of each trellis.

Scott was born in New Hampshire in 1972. He is "My
After-Thought." I now have six "angels" like
my mom has. She has me beat in grandchildren (23) and great
grandchildren (27). My mom has "suitcase and will
travel". She likes to make the rounds of visiting
with her six angels and grandchildren. She has been widowed
since 1976. She sold her house in North Reading to my brother Al
and still lives there with him and her daughter-in-law Judy.
She has her own shady flower garden
in the backyard where she has planted violas,
lillies, lillies of the valley and had transplanted
three of her several peony bushes. She had divided her
peony bushes amongst my daughter Nancy, my sister Brenda
and me. Her bird feeders are located in front of the house.
Her seat in the diningroom is located in front of the picture
window where she likes to watch her favorite birds (the cardinal) eat.

Doesn't Mom look very happy? She has carried on her mother
Edith's family traditions and their love of God, people,
animals and nature down to the her next three generations of
our family. Memories of her mother,
my" Grandmother Sunshine" are alive
and well in our family.
Thank you for sharing my memories of my grandmother and the
Gray family of Roxbury, Massachusetts.

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