By Vivian Conrad | Senior Center Director
My grandmother was already engaged to another person when she attended a wake and caught sight of my grandfather kneeling at his wife’s coffin, asking God to help him raise his motherless children. A tug at her heart was too insistent to ignore. The upright, honorable man first gained her attention, then earned her respect, and eventually won her love. They married in 1921. My mother, the baby of the family, was born seven years later.
In preparing for the Senior Center’s Family History Week that begins on Monday, I’ve been reading letters my grandparents wrote to each other during their courtship years. Grandaddy calls her Miss Mattie, and she addresses him as Mr. Holland. Their words are bathed in a sweet tone of deference and respect that has almost disappeared from today’s social consciousness.
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