[Magdalen] 50th Reunion

[Jim Guthrie]

From: Ginga Wilder

>Great story, Jim.  You grandmother must have been some kinda woman!

She pitched softball at her 75th and 80th birthday parties, and died of a stroke 
on her way to a bridge game after fixing dinner for my folks -- after having 
played 18 holes of golf -- on a December afternoon, yet.  Her first reaction to 
losing one side of her body getting into the car was to beep the horn until Dad 
came out, and insisted he take her to the bridge game rather than the hospital.

One of my favorite incidents with her was the night she had three tables of 
bridge going -- and she and her friend Molly got to talking about something in 
London. So after the tables were cleared, they made an airline reservation to 
London -- for the next morning. Dad took them to the airport and off they went 
for a week. the following Tuesday, Molly's daughter called, distraught, that her 
Mom had "never made it home from the bridge game." Mom explained, "Oh they went 
to London." Molly's daughter soon persuaded her mother to move to Miami --  
mainly to make sure Mom wan;t spending their [expected] inheritance.

Of course, Molly got my grandmother to move visit Miami, and my grandmother 
joined Hadassah and then they went on a two week guided tour of Israel and then 
spent another two weeks there exploring on their own. Molly's daughter continued 
in great distress over such stuff.

Then there was the time Molly, my grandmother and I went to Flemington NJ -- me 
to ride a train and they to shop in the boutiques. I returned just in time to 
find them in a store where they were being yelled at by two shopkeepers. They 
had been playing the elderly-lady version of good cop/bad cop -- i.e. one poor 
and on a fixed income and the other yelling at shop keepers they should give the 
poor one a break. What tripped them up was they were switching off roles from 
store to store, and one of their previous targets, er victims, errr shopkeeper 
came in to visit his neighbor and caught the (now reversed) act.

Mom used to say she was often irritating but always interesting. May Dad said he 
felt exhausted just watching her.

I hasten to say she was very helpful to me when all my friends were dying of 
Aids in the 1980s -- having gone through so many friends who died shortly after 
the grandparents retired, then again in the late 60s, and another group in the 
1970s and then a in the 1980s, she offered a great deal of perspective for me.

>I just posted my senior year book photo on FB....nevery knew how much my
>granddaughter looks like me...especially her eyes.  I look(ed?) like my
>grandmother, especially the eyes.  Feeling nostalgic.

Some of my sister's kids look like by grandmother and my mother -- but they hate 
to admit it <g>.

Cheers,
Jim