My great grandma, Gracie Mae Caldwell Patton, lived a quiet life rarely leaving the hollow where she and her husband farmed and raised their family. Her granddaughters recalled at her home, “we always got up early to do the chores that had to be done- but always, Grandma was already up preparing for the day. We started by bringing in wood and coal for the cook stove…because grandma started cooking early…She baked her own bread 2 to 3 times a week and biscuits daily….then she would always bathe Uncle Harry [her son who was born with special needs] and change his sheets every day and give him a good shaving….We fed Uncle Harry if Grandma was busy then we would go out to the chicken coop and gather fresh eggs for breakfast and for cooking later….
“Then we would go down to the sulfur spring and tote back two large pails of ice cold sulphur water that was placed on the back porch to stay cold for everyone who came in the back door from working outside…it had a dipper that everyone drank out of. I guess the good Lord looked out for us cause no one got sick….Grandma and her daughters worked together to preserve the garden harvest…putting up tomatoes, green beans, pickles, beets, relish, and apple butter in the fall in a big kettle over an open fire- stirred for hours with a long handled wooden stirrer-I do recall fall Hog Butchering- Big Pigs strung up to be butchered. Grandma used all parts of the pig- no waste…
“On Sunday morning she would be sitting in HER CHAIR by the window listening to the preachers on the radio all morning. Grandma never went to church with all of us in the hollow- her responsibility to Uncle Harry, to be there always for him, kept her at home.” (Memories of Anita Shaver and Nancy Brown)
Grandma Gracie lived in what might be called a limited sphere yet she used that opportunity to teach her children an oft quoted line, “If you don’t give what you have, you’ll never have anything to give.” What she had, she gave. She gave the gift of hard work, teaching her children and grandchildren to contribute. She gave the gift of her steady presence that helped create security and peace for her family. She gave the gift of preparation in the fall that brought meals in the winter. She gave the gift of caring for her family. She gave the gift of happy memories to children and grandchildren who worked and played under her watchful eye. She gave the gift of faith, worshipping even as she stayed at home to care for her vulnerable son. Those gifts have rippled out through her posterity far from the hollow where she lived her life. What she had, she gave.
In our efforts to give, there are days when we feel empty, that we have nothing left to give. This season allows us to pause and reminds us that at all times we can give thanks. Give thanks for the opportunity to work and grow. Give thanks for the gifts of life, breath and thought. Give thanks for our Creator who made all things “for the benefit and use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;” (D&C 59:18). Give thanks for the opportunity to learn to see as He sees and to love His children. Give thanks for the gift of His Son, who enables and redeems us. Give thanks!
Love the story!
Thank you! I am so grateful for the legacy she left me!