Page 5 - August 2014 Catalyst

Joe Grimaud
HOW I FOUND MY HERITAGE
Note: With the intro- duction of the Internet, millions have become interested in looking up their ancestors. I was fortunate to have been raised in a home where three genera- tions enriched my life.
This is about my grandmother, Mrs. Sara Maude Martin, who went to Heaven on Feb. 23, 1987 at the age of 103.)
Mother eventually had to place Mama Martin in a nursing home near her residence. at was a sad occasion for Mother, but Mama Martin ad- justed quickly and became the life of the home. I remember the time when our young teen- aged son went to visit her with Gladys and me. Mama’s aged mind was starting to come and go but the wit was still there. As she sat in her wheelchair near us, she turned to my youngest son and asked, “And how are you doing?” He replied, “Just ne.” After awhile she looked at him and repeated the question. He repeated his answer. When the senility, which had nally taken its toll, caused her to state the question for the third time, he was a bit slow in responding. But her wit was not slow “And how are you do- ing?”she asked for the third time.When no im-
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Gladys Grimaud
HOPE FOR AMERICA
“ Why are you smoking that bad ole ciga- rette? Don’t you know that ciga- rettes will make you sick?” Five-year- old Alana’s pierc- ing green eyes and sharp poignant words zeroed in on her target at the swimming pool...a poor unsuspecting middle-aged man who just wanted to relax by the motel swim- ming pool on a hot summer day. But alas, there was Alana! “And just why are you drinking that beer? Don’t you know
Papa Joe began to squirm in his lounge chair and wished that he had skipped the pool and had taken all ve grand- kids directly to Six Flags Over Georgia. Instead, we had decided to uncoil from the Atlanta tra c by taking a dip in the pool at the motel rst. But he was trapped now until this scene played out. Alana was focused! Looking the visitor at the pool squarely in the eye, this wise little one turned on the southern charm. Her piercing green eyes were now twin- kling and her sharp poignant words
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beer will also make you sick?”
August 2014
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