My grandmom, Marion SontheimerMany of my best childhood memories involved my grandmother. At Christmas, she would tease us and tell us, "Look! Out the Window! I just saw Santa Claus peeking in!" to which my brother, sister and I would freak out and look. Of course, we always "just missed him" because we were not quick enough. We would beg her for the maraschino cherries at the bottom of her glass, and she'd give them to us.
Christmas 1975My Grandmom was a real hoot. We would go to her old house in Pineville and sit at her kitchen table spinning around in the big bucket seat chairs that had yellow vinyl upohstery. She would serve us treats like coffee with lots of milk and sugar or tiny cocktail weiners with creamed corn or klondike bars and mini cans of Tab Cola. We thought it was the fanciest stuff ever. It's funny how a kid's mind works. Later on, we would beg her to take out her false teeth because when she did it made her mouth pucker up and we'd scream in terror and joy. We'd make her do it over and over again.
Summer vacation at the Seaside Heights seashore was something that I'd look forward to all year around. You could always find grandmom on the beach, just look for the "bird hat". The bird hat was not so much a hat as it was a head scarf which served the dual purpose of keeping her big hairdo in check as well as being easy for us kids to see on a busy beach. It was hot pink, and it had feather like protrusions sticking out of it all over the place that waved around in the breeze. You could spot it a mile away.
Later on, after dinner we'd all go to the boardwalk. Grandmom and my mom would pass time that my sister and I spent ride after endless ride on the carousel by picking out jewelry or fudge at the nearby concession stands. Other times they would sit on a bench and she would wave every time we came around.
Grandmom always had dogs. Pammy, Vicki, Flipper, Baby, Suzy, Stinky...those were some of their names. Every Saturday morning you could look forward to a visit from her. She would always stop by after she went to the hairdressers to get that big hairdo coiffed to perfection. Sometimes she would bring her dogs with her and we'd play for hours.
We took many vacations with my grandmother. Williamsburg VA. California. Hawaii. My mother traveled even more places with her after us kids got "too old and cool" to go on family trips. They traveled around the country on bus trips, they went to Canada, they'd drive down to Florida and visit my brother, they went everywhere together!
My grandmother was tough as nails. She always had a bright outlook and no matter what lemons life threw at her, she always managed to somehow make lemonade. She never complained. She and my grandfather were hardworking people. They were chicken farmers in the depression. They'd be up before dawn, counting eggs and getting them ready to ship to market. And that was before making breakfast! She worked on the General Motors assembly line in Trenton, NJ for 20 years. Even after my grandfather died suddenly in the late 1960's, she went right back to work on the line. When we were kids, she worked as a parking lot attendant in the lot behind Kenny's Bookstore in Doylestown, PA. In the snow or the heat, she'd be out there punching tickets and always greeted everyone with a smile.
Making facesIn her later years as her memory began to fail she became frail but she was still fiesty. She'd forget people's names but she'd be able to tell you detailed stories about life on the farm in the 1930's. It was always interesting to hear what she had to say. She'd make my brother in law or my husband blush by telling them how handsome they were at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Or she'd turnaround and whisper to me "I think he's a real nice guy, but don't tell him that because I don't want him to get a big head". She'd stick out her tongue at you or make faces when you were trying to take a picture, or playfully try to hit you with her cane. She'd make friends with anybody who returned her smile. Doctors, nurses, the old lady sitting across from her at the her lunch table. She brought smiles and joy to all those around her. Everyone loved my grandmom. She will be sorely missed. I'm am so lucky to have had her in my life.
R.I.P. Marion Sontheimer
Sept 25th, 1915 - July 31st, 2008
2 comments:
She sounds like she was a fantastic woman who lived a good, full life. You were very blessed to have her and I hope that she is at peace.
*hugs*
Mrs. S lived next to me for many years. She was by far my favorite neighbor. She was always smiling, telling a funny story or just sitting watching the cars go by. I remember all of her dogs, she told me she named one after me. She had just lost “Baby” and I wanted my Mom to run down to the SPCA to get her a new dog. But my Mom wanted her to go with us and to make sure she wanted another one. But instead of us surprising her, she surprised us, by bring home Suzy. She said she couldn’t wait to get home and to say “Suzy meet Susie.”
She was an inspiration to anyone who met her. From shoveling 30 inches of snow in the winter to mowing the lawn in the summer, she was doing something. I remember always asking if she was lying about her age. I thought she had to be younger than what she was telling us she was. How many 90-year-old men or women are pushing and riding lawn mowers in the middle of summer. Yet she always did it and never complained or asked for help.
Once my son was born he loved going to Gamma’s so he could go next door and visit his “Mrs. Some-in-hammer,” eat vanilla ice cream, and play with Stinky. Whenever we couldn’t find him we knew where he was, just visiting his Mrs. Some-in-hammer.
There are no words to describe how lucky we were to have had her in our life as a Neighbor, and Friend, She will be sadly missed, but never forgotten.
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