My Grandma

                                                 My Grandma, By Olivia Kent

My grandma, Patricia, thinks she is not very interesting, but really she has done many interesting things and has many stories to tell.  Like when she worked at a pickle factory, or when she drove over the royal gorge.  She has been through good and bad times, and there are a lot of things I learned about by interviewing her.

Patricia ( I call her Mammy) was born in 1944 at the hospital in Flint, MI, for there was no hopital in the little town of Lapeer, MI where her family lived.  Mammy’s grandparents were from Denmark, and when her mom started school she did not know English!  My Grandma had four siblings, two brothers and two sisters.  But her younger brother sadly died at the age of four.  Growing up her hobbies were playing softball with friends, reading, and baking. Her favorite books were the Nancy Drew series. Up until 6^th grade Mammy attended a one room schoolhouse, and she had to walk one mile each way everyday.

My grandma’s family raised chickens, and at times they could have up to 3,000 chickens! They also had cats, a dog, and occasionally cows or horses. They had to collect many, many eggs everyday!  They would sell eggs to the hospital. One time Mammy was bringing in 30 dozen eggs to the hospital and dropped them all!  Her family would eat chickens for Sunday dinner and her mother had to chop the heads off, and they would watch the chickens run around headless! Mammy and her siblings had to pluck the feathers off the chickens, and clean out the insides.   

Mammy started babysitting when she was 11, and worked at a dime store when she was 15.  She had a job in a office at the Vlasic pickle factory once! Even though she hates pickles!  Mammy attended Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, MI.  While she was in college Mammy needed a job to help pay for everything, and she got a job with a  family who had eight kids! Their father was away for a year and needed help. After that Mammy was a teacher and taught in Colorado, Virginia, and California. During her time in Long Beach, CA. my grandma met my grandpa Max at a picnic!  They married in Lapeer MI, 1971.  They had 4 children, my two uncles, my mom, and my aunt.  My grandma was a teacher most of her life and she retired in 2005 when I was three. My grandparents have lived in Owosso, MI. since 1980. 

The Royal Gorge

Some cool things my grandma has had the oppurtunity to do are to attend Easter service at Arlington National cemetary, and at the Airforce Base. She has gone to Pikes Peak, Hawaii, and once she even drove over the Royal Gorge in CO., and she doesn’t even like bridges! Most of the traveling has done is visiting grandkids, in Texas, Arizona, and Florida.

My grandma has gone many places, and done lots of things. From going to a one room school house to teaching in California. Mammy says the things she is most proud of are having four kids, and having been married for 44 years now.  I loved learning more about my grandma, and hearing her stories.