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Stewart Smith
Maud
Gary, Indiana
Mama
My nominee for The Grandparents Hall is Maud Stewart Smith, my maternal
grandmother. Maud and her husband adopted my birth mother and raised her with love and support until adulthood. After my mother gave birth to me, as a single women in the fifties, I was brought home to the loving arms of my grandmother.
Those arms were strong and unwavering. Maud did not ooze with sentimentalism, but she always prioritized my needs and desires over hers - I knew I was loved. It has been said the first twelve years of a child’s life sets the tone for the rest of their life. I had a powerful example of womanhood, grace in all circumstances, and love for family for my first thirteen years of life.
I was eight when my grandmother lost her sight, but that did not stop her. I learned to cook and clean by watching a blind woman do the same. I learned to take the bus alone and pay bills in her stead even though I had to stand on tiptoe to reach the counter. I was girded by my grandmother’s guidance and confidence in me. And all the while, I never heard my grandmother complain or express resentment about her blindness.
Her most effective form of instruction was the informal conversations we had about values, family, and finance. Sometimes these were soliloquies. I absorbed these nuggets like a sponge. Although Mama never birthed biological children, she also raised one niece from infancy and other nieces and nephews at various stages of life.
She was a foster mother and coveted babysitter until losing her sight. She was the
matriarch of her family. Her legacy being the children she didn’t birth but reared to be successful in life.
One of Mama’s favorite sayings was “can’t is dead” and she definitely showed that by pressing through her circumstances with grace and faith while raising me. I know that anything is possible with the love and guidance of a concerned, involved and loving grandmother.
My grandmother died at the age of 62, but she did a lot of living and loving in the short time she was here.
grandmother. Maud and her husband adopted my birth mother and raised her with love and support until adulthood. After my mother gave birth to me, as a single women in the fifties, I was brought home to the loving arms of my grandmother.
Those arms were strong and unwavering. Maud did not ooze with sentimentalism, but she always prioritized my needs and desires over hers - I knew I was loved. It has been said the first twelve years of a child’s life sets the tone for the rest of their life. I had a powerful example of womanhood, grace in all circumstances, and love for family for my first thirteen years of life.
I was eight when my grandmother lost her sight, but that did not stop her. I learned to cook and clean by watching a blind woman do the same. I learned to take the bus alone and pay bills in her stead even though I had to stand on tiptoe to reach the counter. I was girded by my grandmother’s guidance and confidence in me. And all the while, I never heard my grandmother complain or express resentment about her blindness.
Her most effective form of instruction was the informal conversations we had about values, family, and finance. Sometimes these were soliloquies. I absorbed these nuggets like a sponge. Although Mama never birthed biological children, she also raised one niece from infancy and other nieces and nephews at various stages of life.
She was a foster mother and coveted babysitter until losing her sight. She was the
matriarch of her family. Her legacy being the children she didn’t birth but reared to be successful in life.
One of Mama’s favorite sayings was “can’t is dead” and she definitely showed that by pressing through her circumstances with grace and faith while raising me. I know that anything is possible with the love and guidance of a concerned, involved and loving grandmother.
My grandmother died at the age of 62, but she did a lot of living and loving in the short time she was here.
Yes
Joined April 12, 2019