Goodbye Grammy

My grandmother, Catherine Lonergan, passed away on March 4, just 2 days shy of her 101st birthday. She lived in Penn Yan, New York (to see her obituary, go to http://www.townsendwoodfuneralchapel.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1529&Itemid=46).

My sisters, brother, and cousins all knew her as Grammy, but most of her friends called her Caddy (not sure if the spelling is right on that). She had retired before I can remember (she had been a telephone operator, and then she worked at Michael Stearns, which manufactured clothing - I think she was a seamstress there). Grammy worked for many years, including through the Depression. I guess the priest at her funeral said that she probably just didn't want to live through another one! She is buried next to my grandfather, who died in 1953. The things I remember most about Grammy are her praying with rosary beads, her visiting my grandfather's grave, her flower garden, her wooden swing, her huge lilac tree out front, the candy she always had in her dining room, the glass figurines on her telephone stand and in her china cabinet, her dog Lady, and the ferns next to the back door where we would always dump dirty dishwater. Oh, and the gray and pink bottle of hair rinse (I can't remember the brand, but I remember that bottle) that was always in her bathroom upstairs.

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