Treasure Chest Thursday

Eydie Beane Dunbar, Mary Faudree Beane, and Cyndi Beane Henry

12th Street, Norfolk, Virginia

May 1967

This is one of the few photographs taken with my Grandma Beane, my Dad's mother. It was taken in May 1967. Grandma was 70 years old in this photograph [or would be 70 in just a few days on June 3rd of that year!]

Grandma came to live with us just a short 18 months before.

She was a quiet woman. And I remember she always smelled of Gardenia Bouquet talcum powder.

She seldom used a handkerchief, but she always kept a tissue tucked up under the edge of her sweater sleeve, close at hand.

She wore white tennis shoes as she got older, because they gave her better "grip" she said, and she stayed more comfortable. She kept these clean by daily dusting them with talcum powder.

She was a wonderful cook! I remember well her homemade biscuits before she quit cooking! But my favorite, was her egg custard! Just a tiny hint of nutmeg in every velvety bite! [I've tried for years to get my custard to come out like hers, but I just somehow can't quite get it the same! And does anyone else still make egg custard, or am I strange in that that wonderful treat reminds me of a dear grandmother?]

When she was older, she was very thin, and she would sit with her legs crossed. BOTH of her feet sat flat on the floor when her legs were crossed at the knees!!! It often looked like she had her shoes on the wrong feet! I can remember teasing her so over this, and her familiar reply was "Oh, pshaw girl!"

Grandma had once taught mute children to speak using their hands. It was from her that I learned the basics of "signing".

Grandma once told me of how Grandpa cut her hair with a pair of very sharp shears. He was over 30 years her senior, and somehow as he cut her hair in a shingle [a short hairstyle], he slipped, and snipped the tip of her ear. It bled for the longest time. She laughed about it, but said it really was a serious thing then, as they had the hardest time getting it to stop bleeding, and Grandpa felt so guilty for the injury! [My Grandpa died in 1954, 5-1/2 years before I was born.]

I treaure each and every memory I have with Grandma Beane. The older I become, the more treasured each of those memories becomes.