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Her name was Helene. I don't believe she ever had a nickname. In fact, with the exception of her husband, Abe, I never heard her call people by anything other than their full name. I had a nickname, but she always called me Deborrah. I called her, Grandma.
People who knew both of us told me that I was just like her: strong, outspoken, fiercely proud, and a fighter. She was always on the go, always smiling, always talking to people, always off to her women's poker game.
She loved her grandchildren! This was taken in Miami sometime in the early 60’s - she made sure I knew how to swim. We spent a lot of time together when I was little. When my family moved across the state to Ft. Myers, she was a constant visitor.
She loved the opera and would play 78's on her Victrola for us. She had recordings of Caruso, Callas, and many of the opera singers of the early 20th Century. When I decided to become an opera singer, she was thrilled! My father told me that she could play the piano, but I never heard her play. He told me that he had had no idea growing up. But one day, when he was a young man, he watched her sit at a grand piano and begin playing. He was stunned. She had never talked about it.
She came from a wealthy family, but she and my grandfather lived in a modest house, in a modest section of Miami. She loved to collect things: teacups, fans, jewelry. She could play a mean hand of poker!
She died when I was 20. Looking back, I realize how much I really took her presence for granted. My father was not close with his mother and he never initiated visits. I grew up not really caring much about family. Of course, now that I have a family of my own, I realize how tragic that was. She and I did get to spend a lot of time together, though, and I am thankful for that. I have tried to teach my own boys the importance of family and being together. I hope that one day, when they have children (I have already put in my order), they will look back at photos and remember their grandma with as much love as I remember mine.
Journaling: 1-30-22; Photo: Early 1960s, Miami, FL
