Thanksgiving and Memories

Many of my Facebook friends are doing the 30 days of thankfulness by posting each day one thing they were thankful for. It was nice and it made me think of things I am thankful for in my life. I'm not participating partly because that's a big commitment. But it did get me thinking about two people who I am thankful for in my life and how they shaped me. Those two people are my grandmothers. I was named after both my grandmothers. My name was suppose to be Elizabeth Marie, after my maternal grandmother- Dorothy Elizabeth but I was born on my other grandmother's birthday- Vina. So I became Elizabeth Vina Marie. This year Grandma Vina would have been 102 on Veteran's Day.

Vina Foster the last time she rode a horse.

Grandma Vina was an amazing, funny and strong-willed woman. She died when I was in seventh grade and I have some memories about her but I came to my conclusion about who she is by reading letters and things she wrote when my dad was a kid/young adult.

She is always on the list when people ask "If you could have dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be?" I always have her on my list. I would have loved to have a conversation with her as an adult. She was the type of person that within 10 minutes of talking to her she would know your life story and who you were related too. She also wouldn't back down if she was in a  disagreement and thought she was right. I think she was tough as nails and would fight like hell to protect her family or what she felt was important. But she was also funny or at least humorous so that others laughed.

I was one of those lucky kids that has both grandmas nearby but because of that I think didn't spend as much time with her and I now regret not doing so. I have learned things about her that I never knew before. I learned that she met her husband, my grandfather at a dance and that they loved to dance at the grange hall. Most of their dates were dancing and they wouldn't get he before dawn; this makes me smile because it want the part of grandma that I knew.

Roy and Vina Foster on their wedding day

She married in 1937 at the age of 23, had four kids and buried her husband in 1953 and a daughter in 1975. She loved her kids and worried about them. She had her family and they helped her.

My aunt shared a story with me that when she was 5 or 6 years old she had a chicken and a hawk had grabbed it. She started yelling and Grandma ran out of the house with the shotgun and shot the hawk. When I told dad about that he said she put the hawk under the wash tub outside so when their dad got home he could see that she shot it.

There is also the letter I read that she wrote to the Oregon Water master explaining that she had water rights and it didn't matter if the men at the neighboring ranches wanted it she wasn't giving them up. There's also the story of after grandpa died those neighbors told her to sell and move to town and put her kids in the foster care system because she couldn't run the ranch by herself. She told them to go to hell (my words not hers) and funny thing her kids and grandkids still open land there and all those ranchers have been gone for long time.

Cutting firewood Nov 1962

I posted on our families group page that I was writing this blog and asked if anyone else had stories of her. My cousin had one. Angie wrote:

"I have a story...A funny memory...I remember staying at grandma and grandpa's, being inside then hearing the dogs bark, followed by the honk of a horn. It was not a light tap, it was a lay on the horn followed by a several honks until grandpa would go outside, then there would be your grandma in her big ole car saying, "Robert, come get these damn dogs!". "I hate these damn dogs!". So grandpa would have to bring the dogs into the utility room until she left. Then grandpa would say in a mocking voice after she would leave come on you damn dogs back outside side. Then we would all sit around giggling that Vina said damn."

My aunt had another one as well,

"bless her heart. she did not "learn" to drive 'til daddy got really sick. she would take Frances up on Maury (mountains) & drive around "learning". Frances wouldn't ride in the front seat  I don't think she ever got it right. She would floorboard the gas then let off till it was SLOW. Then floor it again. Linda has a story about Momma trying to turn around in her driveway.----when I learned to drive she sent me to get bummer lambs. at the Moores in Powell Butte they gave me a cute lil cocker spaniel puppy. she had a fit.--she made us put it outside when we left for school. then we noticed--the door cracking open & she was putting the puppy out--just before we got back to the house."

I read some of her stories about her courtship with grandpa and when they got married. She had a double wedding. Her and Grandpa, Uncle Robert (Angie's grandpa) and Aunt Hazel all got married on the same day. Several years later, as Aunt Hazel would tell the story a traveling salesman came calling and apparently my dad didn't much care for him as a child so he told him that he was born on the day his mom and dad got married. Grandma had to do some fast talking to explain that yes he was born on the day they got married but several years later.

I also learned a life lesson from her and my dad. Grandpa died in 1953 and that winter is was bitter cold. A had Effie Calbreth (sp?) stopped by for a visit and Grandma had told her it she would love to visit but she had to figure out how to keep the house warm. I think dad said she was cutting up old fencing to burn later. Effie went on down the road and when she got to the Post Store she chewed out the state road crew and neighbors that was sitting there because they were in there drinking and "that poor woman up the road is burning her furniture to keep her kids warm." That weekend those guys and some of the neighbors went out and cut a lot of wood and delivered it to Grandma. Dad said she was so grateful and valued that wood to the extent that when she died in 1987, Dad thought she might still have some of that wood in the shed because she tried to burn other wood before that. I learned that story when I was complaining one time to him about selling wood to an elderly lady in town for less than half of the going rate. He told me that sometimes it's not about the money but it's about taking care of people. And that's why to this day, Dad's wood cutting rate is dependent on how much money you make!

As I learn more about her I realize that without knowing her through my teenage years and into adulthood I as well as my cousins have inherited a few of her traits. I'm proud of the person my grandma was and will always have her on the list of five people you would like to have dinner with. She will definitely be someone I can't wait to see and visit with in Heaven.