My Grandma Clara
Today is my grandma's birthday. Her name is and was Clara Francis Howard Thornton. I am the oldest grandchild. I wanted to say a few things about her and my grandpa Joe. They raised 13 kids. None of them got in to any trouble to speak of, all of them lived to be ripe old ages. My mom was the first to join them in Heaven...
My grandma was a very fair skinned woman. She would tell it like it was. She didn't mess around with trying to sugarcoat anything. There was no such thing as being politically correct. My mom told me stories of them growing up in Tip Top Virginia , where my great grandmother lived. We asked my mom did they grow up in a log cabin, she said almost. They lived similar to the Waltons, but didn't have quite as much. On the Waltons, they had indoor plumbing, they didn't. There was the path to the outhouse and depending on the status in the community you had a one-holer or a two-holer. My mom said they had to go to the spring and carry water, they had to get wood for the cook stove. My mom said the Waltons were rich compared to them...
Anyway there were times when my mom would call my grandmother about something concerning us. When I was 16, Sharon and I went to Romney, to the West Virginia School for the Blind. We went there for summer camp. While there I got very homesick. To my surprise I cried everyday. I just missed being at home. I didn't even dream about home. I remember my mom thought that I was being babyish and grandma told her, "If she cried she just cried, I was married with seven kids before I left home"... I really appreciate her wisdom in that. She was the one that told my mom I was developing in to a young lady and brought me my first bra. I have been a chubby girl, but I was starting to grow up and I think mom wasn't paying a lot of attention. She and my grandpa had three gardens, and raised chickens and pigs. Grandpa used to hunt, he liked walking in the woods. I guess he would talk to God during that time. Grandkids were always welcome, some of them lived there from time to time. Grandpa was just glad to be able to provide for the family. My mom told me that my grandpa had orginally come to see grandma's sister Molly, and Molly had someone calling on her and grandma, being like she was, came out and asked would she do?
I used to laugh at them when we would stay there, they loved and worried about each other, but they would get into some comical figjhts. There was the one about the corn or bread pudding. She sat it one the table and she asked him "Joe, how is it?" He made the mistake as so many men do of saying "It's a little dry." She let him have it. When he died, she got really depressed. She missed him terribly...
Grandma give me some advice on men. I can't really say what she said, because she had a way of just saying what she thought and sometimes it wasn't nicely put. She lived to see Sharon's kids. She had some twin dolls she used to let Ri'Hana play with. The twins had just turned two when she died. I remember going to the hospital when I got off from work to see her. Mildred said, "Clair, Sandra and Sharon have come to see you". She groaned. It hurt to see this woman in that shape. I left the room with tears in my eyes. My mom used to tell me she would get nervous and she had to help with the kids, especially Corine, she was a sickly child and she would get so nervous and mom had to help with her. My mom told me the story of how the two brothers got into a fight, she tried to get them to break it up and they wouldn't... Grandma gets a gun and shoots it up in the air to get their attention.. It certainly did...
Matt was talking about his grandma, he told the story of how one of the boys, his brothers smarted off with his grandma, and ran away, she threw a rock and hit him in the back of the head. I think that grandma Clara did something similar. Sharon tells the story about how her and one of the cousins were staying at her house and they had went out somewhere, they really didn't have any business, they tried to sneak back in the house. They sneaked across the living room and turned on the light. There she was sitting in the living room in a chair. "Where have you little fast-tailed girls been?" Busted on the spot...
The world needs more grandma Claras that will stand up to the kids and let you know where you stand. Thanks, grandma.
My grandma was a very fair skinned woman. She would tell it like it was. She didn't mess around with trying to sugarcoat anything. There was no such thing as being politically correct. My mom told me stories of them growing up in Tip Top Virginia , where my great grandmother lived. We asked my mom did they grow up in a log cabin, she said almost. They lived similar to the Waltons, but didn't have quite as much. On the Waltons, they had indoor plumbing, they didn't. There was the path to the outhouse and depending on the status in the community you had a one-holer or a two-holer. My mom said they had to go to the spring and carry water, they had to get wood for the cook stove. My mom said the Waltons were rich compared to them...
Anyway there were times when my mom would call my grandmother about something concerning us. When I was 16, Sharon and I went to Romney, to the West Virginia School for the Blind. We went there for summer camp. While there I got very homesick. To my surprise I cried everyday. I just missed being at home. I didn't even dream about home. I remember my mom thought that I was being babyish and grandma told her, "If she cried she just cried, I was married with seven kids before I left home"... I really appreciate her wisdom in that. She was the one that told my mom I was developing in to a young lady and brought me my first bra. I have been a chubby girl, but I was starting to grow up and I think mom wasn't paying a lot of attention. She and my grandpa had three gardens, and raised chickens and pigs. Grandpa used to hunt, he liked walking in the woods. I guess he would talk to God during that time. Grandkids were always welcome, some of them lived there from time to time. Grandpa was just glad to be able to provide for the family. My mom told me that my grandpa had orginally come to see grandma's sister Molly, and Molly had someone calling on her and grandma, being like she was, came out and asked would she do?
I used to laugh at them when we would stay there, they loved and worried about each other, but they would get into some comical figjhts. There was the one about the corn or bread pudding. She sat it one the table and she asked him "Joe, how is it?" He made the mistake as so many men do of saying "It's a little dry." She let him have it. When he died, she got really depressed. She missed him terribly...
Grandma give me some advice on men. I can't really say what she said, because she had a way of just saying what she thought and sometimes it wasn't nicely put. She lived to see Sharon's kids. She had some twin dolls she used to let Ri'Hana play with. The twins had just turned two when she died. I remember going to the hospital when I got off from work to see her. Mildred said, "Clair, Sandra and Sharon have come to see you". She groaned. It hurt to see this woman in that shape. I left the room with tears in my eyes. My mom used to tell me she would get nervous and she had to help with the kids, especially Corine, she was a sickly child and she would get so nervous and mom had to help with her. My mom told me the story of how the two brothers got into a fight, she tried to get them to break it up and they wouldn't... Grandma gets a gun and shoots it up in the air to get their attention.. It certainly did...
Matt was talking about his grandma, he told the story of how one of the boys, his brothers smarted off with his grandma, and ran away, she threw a rock and hit him in the back of the head. I think that grandma Clara did something similar. Sharon tells the story about how her and one of the cousins were staying at her house and they had went out somewhere, they really didn't have any business, they tried to sneak back in the house. They sneaked across the living room and turned on the light. There she was sitting in the living room in a chair. "Where have you little fast-tailed girls been?" Busted on the spot...
The world needs more grandma Claras that will stand up to the kids and let you know where you stand. Thanks, grandma.
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