Ice Woman

Interview #18 - Grandma aka Ice Woman

My Grandmother is an incredible woman! She recently celebrated her 80th birthday and I think she has a life to look back on and be very very proud of! Her generosity and love have been a profound inspiration to me.

She grew up in Kansas. Her mother was a strict school teacher, (which has led to generations of women scrutinizing my bad handwriting.) She had a daddy she loved very much and three siblings. Grandma was the middle child. I’ve read in many birth order books that middle children often have the most difficult time and suffer from, “Middle Child Syndrome”. They are in a position where they often feel ignored, left out and not as good as their siblings. She was no exception to this. She suffered harsh physical and emotional abuse from her mother. She survived that pain and she now has a wealth of empathy for other children who are being treated poorly. She said that she always tries to give attention to the kids at church who are alone and ignored.

Church and God’s love are a big part of her life! She knows that God expects the best from her and she wants to serve Him and others as much as possible. Her giving spirit is very apparent to everyone that knows her! It seems like every time I call her she has plans to take a friend to their doctor appointment or go visit a lonely elderly person from church or in her neighborhood. She told me that she loves to visit people and make them laugh! I know that her love and good humor are a huge blessing to others!

At the age of eighteen she decided to leave the home she’d grown-up in and run off to Alaska! It’s incredible! She loves Alaska so much! She wed my late grandfather not too long after she arrived in Alaska and became a military wife. They traveled quite a bit. Raising five children while your husband is in and out of town is no easy task. Especially when your husband is an alcoholic. I know that she has endured many difficult things that other spouses of alcoholics can understand. But I also know she doesn’t like to say negative things about the people she loves and that includes her mother and my grandfather. She is very courageous!

Grandmother returned to Alaska and she’s back to loving the cold. She has retired from a long positive career as a legal secretary. As a matter of fact, just last week I ran into one of her old bosses who gushed to me about how much they miss her and how she was the best secretary they’d ever had. Go Grandma!

I am so very pleased to know her as a family member and a friend! If she is evidence of God’s love than I’m sold! Thank you for your brave and generous life!