22 October 2010

Happy birthday again Gram


This was my Grandmother, Guellma Gevene Flowers-Smith-Stewart and today would have been her 105th birthday. Of the many people who played a significant role in my life, none loom larger than Gevene. The older I get the more I see her in me. And the older I get too, the more I see just how great a thing that is. Gram died 14 years ago but I swear she's still around sometimes.

She loved life and embraced it, warts and all, with a passion and an energy that makes me marvel even now. In the photo above, she's playing with Sarah, her first great-grand daughter. Oh how she loved that baby. I remember when that photo was taken, I was standing right there. It really doesn't feel like it was very long ago, but I suppose it was. The baby in that photo now has a husband, a baby and another one on the way. Here she is.

This is Pauline, my great niece and Gevene's great-great grand daughter.


Pauline's going to grow up hearing stories about a great lady who was born in 1905 and I love that kind of continuity. I'm convinced that the dead live on when the living tell their stories and so long as I have breath in my body, Guellma Gevene Flowers-Smith-Stewart's going to be around for a very long time.

8 comments:

  1. Awww Paul. What a beautiful tribute to your Gram. Be still my heart. <3

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  2. Thanks Michele. It's a tradition. I write a post like this every October 22nd.

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  3. That brought a tear to my eye.

    I raise a glass to you, Gram!

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  4. Thanks Raina, it wrecked me pretty unexpectedly when I was writing it.

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  5. Really loved this post! I feel the same about my grandfather. He was the one that thaught me to see beauty all around me. And to see thru walls. See a home as it can be not as it is. Thank goodness for people like these that know how to love their families and teach the next generation.

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  6. Thanks Sue. I'm fortunate and you're fortunate to have known our grandparents. These kinds of multi-generational bonds and connections are so important and our culture's diminished significantly because they're not given the priority they deserve.

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  7. What a wonderful tribute to your beloved gram! My grandma (on my mom's side) was my favorite too and I hers (as I was her first grandchild). She passed away 30 years ago but I still think of her often.

    I recognize the familial similarities in the smiles in the pictures of your gram, you and your niece. Especially that twinkle in your eyes!

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  8. Thanks Pam. I was Gevene's ninth grandkid but I never felt like a number. Generational connections are important things and our mobile culture pays a steep price for short changing them.

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