Page 10 - May 2015 Catalyst

THE STRENGTH OF A WOMAN By Gladys Grimaud | Continued from pg 9
Bye, Peaches” which brought my pet cocker spaniel to my heels.
Joe became a frequent visitor at our house and charmed the socks off my little Mama. She loved him before I did, and although match making is something that is customarily not done in this country, my little Mama saw po- tential in Joe and believed that he would be a very good husband for her daughter someday. She never told me this...it is something that I figured out when I was older. She went to work encouraging this hard working, respect- ful young man to help weed her garden while she encouraged me to walk across the road and visitwithJoe’sbedriddengrandmother. Mama did not go to church, but she noticed that Joe went regularly with his family and said to him oneday, “Gladyslovestoattendchurch. Do you think that she could go to church with you andyourfamily?” Joewasmorethanwilling, and we first held hands while we had our first date going to church together...thanks to my littleMama. Ayearorsolater,Joejoinedthe Air Force at seventeen and left for basic training inSanAntonio,Texas. HeleftAugustaforba-
sic training and returned home as a handsome man wearing a blue uniform with shiny buttons. Ayearorsolater,wemarried. Joewaseighteen and I was fourteen, and again, it was Mama who had the strength to facilitate the marriage withoutlettingDaddyknow. Iwouldnothave done it that way, but I have been thankful for over fifty years she had the strength to make it happen. ThankyouMama.
It wasn’t until my parents divorced after 29 years of marriage that I realized how much in- ner strength Mama had. Joe and I had been married about fifteen years and were living in Germany where Joe was serving in the US Air Force. Mama and Daddy were living in Houston, Texas, and after the divorce, Mama had to learn to drive and get a job outside the home...two major activities that she had never attemptedtodobefore. Amazingly,shegota cleaning job at a hospital in downtown Hous- ton. Even though she was scared to death to drive to Houston to that job every day, she did it for about two years until she married again. Besides her divorce, her heart was broken again when Ritter was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and he called her on Mother’s Day to letherknow. Thankfully,Iwastherewithher when she got the news, but she was so sad- dened by this event that she only lived eighteen
10 CityLight.org
May 2015