Mom’s Recollections of Her Grandma
My Grandpa used to tell me that Mom and Great Grandma were close. Great Grandma could be very stubborn, so Grandpa used to send Mom to talk to her about going to the doctor, etc. I will let Mom tell you about her grandmother in her own words.
Caroline better known as Lee was a woman before her time. In a period when most women wanted to be stay at home Mom’s and be subservient to their husbands my Grandma was a rebel. When Grandma and Grandpa decided they wanted to get married both her parents and his parents were against it. Grandma was German and Grandpa was Irish, and the parents wanted them to marry within their own nationality. Grandma being who she was married William anyway. I remember her telling me that before she married my Grandpa; she made it very clear to him that he would NEVER hit her. (Apparently at that period of our history it was an acceptable practice.) However, it wasn’t acceptable to my grandma. In her words to William “At some point you will have to sleep. I will tie your arms and legs to the bed post and beat the holy hell out of you.” If my Grandpa had lived longer, I am sure we would have had some great stories.
Picture of William Ellis, his wife Caroline and her parents, Frederick and Johanna Johannpeter
Lee didn’t like to cook or clean, but she loved to go out and to travel with her girlfriends. She told me that when my Dad was in the Military Academy if she went out to dinner with her girlfriends, she would send Dad money to get an ice cream soda when he went to town. It was important to her that he knew she cared. When Dad was about eight, they lived across the street from the Lutheran church they belonged to. Grandma wasn’t a regular attendee but thought Dad should be. She told me that one Sunday she just didn’t feel like going to church, so she told Dad that the church was too crowded, but he needed to go. She stood on the porch to make sure he got there safely. Dad went in the church, came back out, and hollered across the street “Mommy, there is a lot of room”. She never used that excuse again.
Grandma was a great seamstress and a career woman. She made my sister and me many matching outfits, but she always sewed them completely by hand. Her stitches were so even that it looked like they were done on a machine. When I was in my 30’s I worked in the garment industry for a few years. There were seamstress’s that still remembered my Grandma. She was the type of woman that wasn’t easy to forget.
When I lived in Illinois, my parents would put me on a Greyhound bus and send me to St. Louis. Grandma would meet me at the bus station. She took me to fancy restaurants, movies, shopping excursions. We took the bus to get there, but usually took a cab home because we had too much to carry.
When I was thirteen one of my birthday presents was a recipe card box. Now 55 years later I still use it and think of her with love.
One of my fondest memories was my Grandma taking me to the Lowe’s State Theater to see Irma La Dolce starring Shirley McClain. She told me I could NEVER tell my parents she took me to that movie, or they would never let me come visit her again. I had no idea what I was going to see, but if it was “forbidden” it must be good. Well, I saw the movie, but I was very naive and had no idea what it was about. Years later I figured out it was about prostitutes. I never did tell mom and dad that Grandma took me to see it. It was OUR secret.
Grandma introduced me to horse racing, slot machines, poker, canasta, and liquor. She was quite a lady.
