Catch Up #2 - Grandma Great

 On February 1st, this lovely lady passed away at the age of 100 years old.

Dorothy May Romans was born May 11, 1912 in rural Nebraska.  My kids sometimes marvel to think about all of the things that she saw in her lifetime. (I mean she was born just after the Titanic sank for goodness sake.) Dorothy grew up on a farm with her eight brothers and sisters.  It wasn't an easy life.  The family was very poor and most of Dorothy's sisters died in early adulthood due to complications in childbirth.

Dorothy met James Duane Woods at a dance sometime near the beginning of the Great Depression.  They soon became engaged, but decided that they didn't want to get married until they could support themselves and afford a home of their own. Many young couples of the day could not find good jobs and had to move in with relatives.  Dorothy and Duane were determined not to have to do that.  They finally married after a five year engagement.

Here is a picture of my grandparents on their wedding day.

Dorothy and Duane had four children - Julia, Jim, Marilyn and Len.  They lived on a farm for much of my mom's growing up years but eventually moved to Alma, Nebraska where my grandpa worked at the post office and my grandma worked as a secretary at the school.

Left to Right - Len, Jim, Dorothy & Marilyn (Mom)

Left to Right- Duane, Jim, Dorothy holding Marilyn, Julia

My mom always wished she lived closer to her family.  We lived about 12 hours away from the Woods relatives and we got to see the Hurst relatives a lot more often.  But we did have some good times anyway.  This is one of my favorite memories with Mom's family.  Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Julie, Uncle Jim and Aunt Yvonne came out for Christmas when I was six years old.  Uncle Jim even dressed up as Santa Clause and came to surprise us because we'd been such good kids.
Left to Right -Aunt Julie, Jane, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Yvonne holding Matt, Dad, Mom holding me

Some of my best childhood memories took place in Alma, Nebraska visiting my grandparents.  Grandma and Grandpa lived in a three story house with a pitch roofed attic room and a huge basement.  They even had a tornado cellar that absolutely fascinated me.  Grandma kept all of her old jewelry and fancy dresses (plus Aunt Julie's and Mom's old prom dresses) for us to play with.  The first thing we did when we got to Grandma's house was run up to the closet in the attic to play dress-up.  After we finished with that, we spent most of our time at the Alma pool and the Harlan County Reservoir.  We also loved shopping at the Ben Franklin and listening to Grandma's Lawrence Whelk and Debbie Boone records.  Grandma made sure that we always had enough peanut butter crispies, ice cream and grape soda to last us until we went home. 

Grandma and Grandpa had a great life together until Grandpa died in 1984.  Grandma was a widow for almost 30 years.  I know she always missed Grandpa.

Grandma lived alone until she was in her nineties when she moved to Albuquerque to be closer to her daughters. Mom and Aunt Julie were the best caretakers ever.  As Grandma got older, she had a hard time hearing and seeing but she still was able to enjoy her great grand-children.  Here she is with Bethany and Amber.

Goodbye Grandma Great.  You were a great lady and we will miss you.