Great Gramma Isabel: A Dear Neighbor

I have been just thinkin' about my great-gramma a lot these recent weeks as my work has involved me deeply in the Minnesota Voter ID Amendement bill debate on a number of levels.  She was my "great great gramma, an voracious reader of two newspapers daily, a powerful business woman (owned and managed three farms) a staunch Republican. She lived with her son and daughter-in-law and had a "mother-in-laws apartment (bedroom and parlor all to herself)" and was known to the whole community as "Ma Evarts."

I never never never saw her cook, bake, do laundry, sew or garden.  By the time I was born, she was in her late seventies, quite agile and an active force to be recconed with if the farm was work was not done well.  Each morning and evening my grampa and uncle met with her to discuss the plans for the farms that day and the outcomes. 

I have no image for this blog because I either use my own photos or go to "google images" to find the one that fits my "just thinkin'".  Great Gramma died in 1962, so I have no digital images of her and I do not have access to the family photo albums I created for my parents to scan (oh, that is quite another story).  I did try "google images" and typed in "1950's gramma reads newspaper."  What I got back were pictures of grampas reading newsapers, grammas baking, with the grandkids, knitting, or by the Christmas tree.  Then I entered "Evarts Farm Minnesota" and found an image of Dr. Arrah B.Evarts.  Now that is another incredible story for another day. 

A very strong memory I have of great gramma is of her sitting on her living room sofa on the farm with her legs up, back against a pillow on the sofa arm, reading light behind her as she intently devoured the newspapers.  She read two daily, the Rochester Post Bulletin and one of the "cities" papers, I don't remember if it was the Pioneer Press or Dispatch (both St. Paul),  as I remember (oh ya I know memory is fickle) the Pioneer Press was the morning paper and the Dispatch the evening paper or the Star Tribune (Minneapolis).  And, she was a powerful woman. NO ONE interrupted her or read either paper until she had finished them!

Quick "fact check" on the Pioneer Press website provides my memory on this one is good!

History

The Pioneer Press traces its history back to both the Minnesota Pioneer, Minnesota's first daily newspaper (which was founded in 1849 by James M. Goodhue), and the Saint Paul Dispatch (which was launched in 1868). Ridder Publications acquired the Minnesota Pioneer and the Dispatch in 1927. Ridder merged with Knight Publications to form Knight Ridder in 1974. The two papers were operated for many years as separate morning and evening papers, but were merged into an all-day publication in 1985 as the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch and made the transition to morning-only newspaper in 1990, when they dropped the word "Dispatch". It is sometimes referred to as the "Pi Press", by reference to the nickname of "Strib" used for the Star Tribune.

"This morning I would like to sit down with her and talk about the issues of the day.  Wrestle with her on the just passed "castle law" allowing people to use lethal force if a crime is being commited in their home; the Voter ID Amendment bill which is racing through the MN Senate passing on party line votes (GOP for 100% and DFL opposed 100%) and the Minnesota Marriage Amendment which is already on the ballot for the 2012 General Election.  She was a Republican and she valued people on the margins of life.  How would she view the actions of the 2011-2012 Minnesota Legislature and the 2012 Congress?  Would she recognize the Republican party she was so proud of participating in? Would she be troubled that our democracy is behaving more like a plutocracy? I will never know."

I remember great-gramma's wake and funeral as if they were yesterday.  She was the first person I loved with all my heart who died. She died when I was 15 years old and I was devistated.  It wasn't bad enough that she died but they "brought her home and layed her out" in front of her parlor windows right next to her sofa and the undertaker put bright red lipstick on my 95 year old great grandmother, holy cow was that wierd!  My gramma and my mom tried to rub it off...well that didn't work!  And then all these people were sitting in her living room and all through the house laughing and drinking coffee and all I could do was sob.  So, I like any 15 year old girl who doesn't know how to deal with what is going on, I locked myself in the only bathroom in the house and refused to come out.  Well, that didn't work for long either!

So I went outside away from the "madness" where the little kids were playing on that bright and beautiful June day.  And there he was.  A grown man, way past 15,  wearing a work shirt, work boots, bib overalls and a farm cap sobbing HIS eyes out!  I sat down and learned that during the Great Depression, he lost everything and was on his last leg when Great Gramma took him in as a farm hand, gave him a roof over his head and food for his belly and treated him well.  She "was a great woman and she saved my life."

Her funeral was the next day at the Methodist Church "up town."  The church was packed, people were in the basement on folding chairs listening over the speaker system.  I was amazed!  Her family and neighbors turned out by the score and I learned that day just how important "Ma Evarts" was to so many.

The more I thought about the man I met at the wake, the more questions I asked. It was then I learned that my grandparents also fed hobos on the back step before sending them.  When one neighbor was down the others jumped in to help them as they could.   

In those days the wall telephone connected people to "the operator up town."  Telephones worked on the party line principle, five or six homes on one line.  The party line also made it possible for neighbors to announced trouble in the neighborhood by ringing ONE very long ring (think...late 20th Century 911 or New Mellinium texting)!  Everyone "on the line" immediately picked up the phone and listened intently to learn: there is a fire in the Granger's barn we need a bucket brigade;  Mr. Steward hung himself in the barn come help his shocked family and the cows need milking; Mrs. Emerson's baby died at birth and the family needs help.  That long ring was an immediate response and the neighbors immediately responded to their neigbhor's need!

I truly believe people cared then and I believe people care now.  It appears to me that what we have lost is in this New Millennium is the connection to our neighbors, respect for the "other", the ability to talk to our neighbors about that on which we agree and that on which we disagree; that we have become a state and a nation of black and white, good and bad, right and wrong; we have allowed ourselves to become deaf to the voice of those who have a differing point of view.  If only we could truly listen to each other, together we might find a common answer rather than a divisive regressive one that pits family member against family member, neighbor against neighbor and creates structures that box some people in and others out.

Great Gramma Isabel was a great woman.  I miss her today and believe that if she were her on my sofa with me, we would likely have some differences in our political beliefs - and I believe that we would be able to listen to and learn a great deal from each other - and we'd both be better for it!   Because for any progress to be made, nothing can be about me it must be about us!     Great Gramma knew this and so did her neighbors.  I know mine, but not like she knew hers.  Can I?