I don't have any living grandparents and never had the privilege of meeting a great grandparent, although mine were pretty great.
In 1970 my mother's dad, John Hall Parsons, died when she was 13 years old; her first day of high school.
My mother's mom, Adele, whom we affectionately called, MomMom was widowed with nine children, ages 6-24. A few years later she moved to St. Petersburg, FL from Moorestown, NJ with her two youngest girls. A few of the older siblings followed and established homes in the Miami and Crystal River areas of Florida.
My mother moved down after high school in 1975.
MomMom never remarried, but met a PT Boater/Veteran, Jay Williams who moved in with her sometime in the 1980s. After five years, they were "common-law" married according to the state of Florida. Pop Jay became the only grandpa I knew on my mom's side of the family.
My father's parents lived in Butler, PA for most of his life until the 1970s when they also moved to Florida. Only a mere 2 miles from my mother.
PopPop and Grandma were what we called my father's parents, Domer and Annabelle Kinneer.
PopPop died in 1996 of heart failure. It was a sad time. Besides my wedding day, PopPop's funeral is the only time I've seen my father cry.
My family lived within 3 miles of all our grandparents until the day we moved to North Carolina, December 5, 1998.
After we moved, I would drive or fly down to Florida for the summers to stay with MomMom and see all my friends.
Pop Jay died in 2000 after battling fluid in his lungs, pneumonia and other various hindrances, including old age.
On June 6, 2008, after a few years of dealing with dementia, my MomMom died two months after her 85th birthday. She was probably my favorite. Close tie between her and Grandma. They were great. Many good memories and stories...
And finally, on September 18, 2010 my 86-year old Grandma passed away at her daughter's house in Pennsylvania. Her heart was bad and her health had been fading for many years.
All of my grandparent's deaths were sad, but MomMom and Grandma's deaths were especially significant because they ended the role of "parents" in my parent's lives. My mother and father were both left without a parent and us kids were left without grandparents.
It's weird to think about but Justin will never know them. Our kids won't have great-grandparents just like me. And I won't ever know Justin's grandparents either... the last of his died a few years back.
I didn't mean for this to be a gloomy post, more of a memorial. And I have so many stories to tell that I couldn't rabbit-trail off into those... but maybe for another post. :)
I feel like those are stories I need to tell or at least write down. I'd like to tell my kids about them one day...
