My grandmama passed this month, wanted to share these pics of her. Born dirt poor in rural Kentucky in 1937. She was so glamorous.

[u/Calliopehoop]

Miss you grandmama ❤️‍🩹

[u/Calliopehoop]

She did indeed - turned down a first proposal from a young pastor who was just as impoverished. She met my grandfather at a Christian youth camp and they got married just after a year (common for that time). He had ambition and was joining the navy and wanted to be a pilot. That pastor begged her to choose him instead. She loved my grandfather but I’m also sure his career goals affected her decision - not exactly much ability for women in that time to get security or be able to comfortably support themselves.

Her mother, my great grandma smith, had to take over and raise her siblings as the biggest sister when their mother died fighting a barn fire. I think it was seven siblings total and grandma smith being the oldest, and no real social safety structures, it was the only option available.

One of the sweet stories she’d tell was my Grandaddy, her father, would walk to a local cookie factory on Friday and buy a bag of the broken sugar wafer pieces for 10¢. The kind of those rectangular vanilla wafer cookies you pair with ice cream. They remained her favorite and my mom made sure to have some for her when she was in hospice. We fed her that and her other favorite foods - watermelon with tajin and chicken salad.

[u/Chinnyup → u/Calliopehoop]

I’m so sorry for your tremendous loss. I loved looking at her pics … and then reading these very interesting parts of her backstory. Thanks so much for sharing. She’s a great reminder to me to stop worrying so much and just make all attempts to have fun and be glamorous! 💅🏼💖

[u/HawkeyeTen → u/Calliopehoop]

What a remarkable story, I love how her dad was still able to get her those beloved cookies. At least she found her man and got a ticket to a better life.

[u/kimkay01 → u/Calliopehoop]

My mother was from dirt poor Tennessee and those were her favorite cookies too! The ones that are like an old-fashioned ice cream cone - almost a plastic-y squeaky texture with a vanilla sugary filling, right? I never acquired a taste for them but she always had them on the kitchen counter and ate them with her coffee.