Remembering Relatives

I try to post in my journal here the lists I add on Tami's blog. For some reason today I am not getting it to post, so I thought I'd "repost" it here, add a few photos, too. So, here's my list for...

Remembering Relatives...

For me, that would be my Aunt Mae. She's the oldest of 15 children in my Mum's family. There was 28 yrs between her and the youngest, as my Mum was 14th, that made Aunt Mae the closest thing to a Gran I had. My Mum's mother passed away when she was 18yrs old, so Older siblings all looked out for her, but there was a special bond between Mum and Aunt Mae. For years she was just a signature on a card, a voice on a reel to reel tape that would arrive for the holidays. We lived over 3,000 miles apart with an ocean between us. When I was seven she and my Dad's aunt that had raised him made a flight to the states. Aunt Jean was 77 yrs. old and had never left Scotland, never been on a plane. Aunt Mae was a very persuasive woman! When I was eleven I lived in Scotland for 3 months and spent a lot of time getting to know her.

What I knew of Aunt Mae then:
1. packages for birthdays and Christmas would come from her and Uncle Bob with all kinds of goodies...certainly clothes like woolen fair isle sweaters , but sweeties too.
2. Her 'only' son was killed in a tragic car accident leaving three young children with out a father...but they helped to raise them.
3. Her and Uncle Bob were foster parents to two young troubled boys.
4. She loved the "praying hands" sculptures, paintings etc.
5. her hands were never idle...she could knit up a storm! I've never seen anyone knit as fast and accurately without looking at it constantly and carry on a conversation at the same time.
6. She took bus trips all over Britain to hear Billy Graham when he did his crusades there.
7. She kept in touch with my Dad's family as though they were hers and made them best friends.
8. When I was married she would always send money before Easter for me to sew outfits for the girl's Easter.
9. She got me interested in our family's genealogy and was THE source for info.
10. She ripped out the family tree from the family Bible and sent it to me...why she didn't send the whole thing, I'll never know. It had all the seeds to begin my searches of family history.
 

Things I've learned about her since she died.
1. She worked at Grandad's bakery, but she also worked as a chauffeuse in grandad's "taxi" service in the late 20's. The first in Britain, and made the newspaper!
2. She left Scotland for Canada in the early 30's after a marriage ended in divorce. She returned home a few years later...but she was the first to try Canada.
3. Her real name is Mary Ann, her full name being her grandmother's full name.
4. She lived with a lot of pain, both physically as she got older, and personally for the many tragedies that came across her path in her life. However, her faith in God was inspirational, and it was what got her through her 89 yrs. She was formidable!
 

Aunt Mae and Uncle Bob Smith at their grandson John's wedding

Aunt Mae in the center, my Mum to the left of her. Mum's older sister still living in Cananda at almost 94 yrs, is behind her and at the opposite side of Aunt Mae in the front is Aunt Jean the last living sister in Scotland we visited in 2010. Aunt Daisy is in the back right, she is the mother to Wilma and Jessie the cousins we visited and Jess and her husband are our regular visitors. Aunt Daisy passed away in 2005.