I Have Seen True Grit

Today was buried a lady of the Great Plains.  She died days short of her 93^rd birthday. 

            The first thing you need to know about Charlotte is that she grew up in a home touched by tragedy, but not subdued by it.  She was the first of five children, born to Ellis and Lucille, pioneers of the Great Plains of Eastern Colorado.  Her father was a day laborer and part time farmer in the middle of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.  That was a daunting duo of hardships, but they were nothing compared to what was to come.  Ellis took a job unloading car chassis from a railroad.  A hoist broke; the metal frames fell on Ellis, breaking his back.  He spent the rest of his life a paraplegic, confined to a wheel chair. 

            As he healed, the family went through a time of deprivation of which people today have no conception.  I remember hearing tales of days and days of fried mush.  There were no safety nets.  Ellis did qualify for medical care at the VA., but beyond that, the family depended on the kindness of strangers, friends and family. 

            Eventually, Ellis made a living from a saw sharpening shop in the garage of the family home.  Lucille started a flower shop that she operated from their front room.  Every one of the five children had paper routes in the small town of Wray, Colorado.  They covered the entire town, running their routes in the morning, and coming home to hang soggy, cold mittens above the stove and settling down to bowls of hot cereal.   Yet, these children, who knew nothing but a life of poverty and constant deprivation did not fail.  They were not allowed to, so they overcame instead.  

            Three of the children attained college degrees.  Charlotte had a Master’s degree in Library Science, one of the first women in Colorado to hold such a degree.  One of her brothers had a degree in engineering.  His specialty was putting atomic reactors on line.  Another became a science teacher and served as president of the National Science Teachers’ Association.  One brother became a successful farmer in Colorado, and another stayed home and became the care-taker for his parents, while becoming an officer in Lions Club.  As a tacit homage to their parents’ hard work, each one of the children spent their first adult pay check buying a new appliance for their parents’ home: a clothes washer to replace the wringer washer, a drier, a gas stove, a refrigerator, and eventually a dish washer.  

            How can you come from so little and achieve so much?  Surely a family facing so many problems experiences anger, frustration and depression.  All of these are legitimate feelings and must be acknowledged, for to deny them is cancerous.  But for Charlotte and her family anger became action; frustration became determination, and depression was suffered in silence and tears shed privately.  Life was too precious not to celebrate.  One hoped for the best, prepared for the worst and took what came. 

Charlotte was my first mother-in-law; the Grandmother of my children, who freely name her as one of their role models.   I loved her like a mother and thank God for her presence in my life.

Charlotte comes from a long line of people who keep the faith.