Walter and Harriett Ash

I've been wanting to write this for a while to someone ... anyone willing to read!

There are two people who loved me deeply and really influenced my life. My grandma and grandpa Ash. Walter Ash (age 32) married Harriett Corwin (age 28) and was married for 54 years. They had one child name Donna and they loved her dearly. Donna married Joel Barnes and they had two children me and my sister Jennifer.

What makes my grandma so cool is she liked to stay up late and watch Johnny Carson and David Letterman with me. We would eat a bowl of ice cream and watch the shows and that was fun. (And fattening) She was always there for me and she made me feel like the most important person in the world. I enjoyed calling her and just chatting about her day. We would go out to lunch too and have so much fun talking and laughing.

When I was little and acting like a total "stinker" she would get mad and say "If you don't settle down I'm going to get out the ruler and paddle your little butt." She NEVER did this but I remember as a child thinking "Oh my gosh I've pushed her to this point and I better settle down." I wasn't afraid of getting hit with the little plastic dime store ruler, I just knew grandma was really upset and I knew I didn't want her to be upset anymore. She made me mind her because I loved her and didn't want to upset her. It was never motivated by fear.

One thing my grandma did when my sister and I were little is dress us alike. We really looked like twins. (We were 18 months apart) I don't know why she did this but I can't see the importance of making kids look alike. I think is important that each child has a sense of his/her own individuality. It never bothered me as child but as an adult looking at the pictures I see a lot of them with my sister and me in matching outfits. As an adult I find it strange.

My grandparents were my main babysitter as a child and I loved it. I always felt comfortable there. They had air conditioning and my family didn't so I LOVED to visit and spend the night in the summer in the cool air conditioning. I lived with my grandma and grandpa for a while when I was in my early 20's because they had a cool studio apartment upstairs. They designed this space for my mom when she was a teenager. It was a great space for escape.

My grandpa was rather quiet but he could be so funny sometimes. He showed that he cared about you by providing things for you. He owned a Shell gas station in Plymouth when I was growing up and whenever my parents went there to get gas he would always sneak a Hershey's chocolate bar to my sister and me. I loved to visit that station when I was a kid. He retired from there in the 1970's. As time went on he had to go into the hospital for different problems but I remember him in the intensive care unit one time and he asked me if I had enough gas in the car. He said if I didn't that I should use his credit card to get gas. He was rather sick but his thoughts were on how to care for me. His love was so apparent and I hope I have the chance to pay his kindness forward to another human being.

I found out from my mom that my grandpa was rather generous with his employees at the Shell station. At Christmas he bought gifts for his employees AND their wife and children. He tried to help his employees that were having trouble too. My grandpa loved the Civil War and had a whole room full of Civil War history books in it. Sadly he ended up selling them as he started to "out-live" his savings. He also loved to visit Civil War cemeteries and my mom told me stories of being dragged around to different Civil War sites when she was a kid. He loved baseball and watched every game. Which I didn't like when I was a kid. I wanted to watch cartoons and his game was getting in my way! As an adult I now have wonderful memories of the joy on his face watching his games.

My grandparents loved to take drives in the country and when I was kid I would go with them and I really enjoyed just driving around looking about at the scenery. I rarely do this anymore but it was relaxing and it always reminds me of my grandparents. (Because my mom and dad never had time to just drive around the area and enjoy the sights, they were too busy being parents and making a living.)

My beloved grandparents died on February 11th, 1995 and were buried together on Valentine's Day. (They got engaged on Valentine's Day) They were married 54 years!

My grandpa was in a nursing home and he died at 5:30 a.m. and my grandma heard about it and had a heart attack and died 3 hours later. We had a double funeral. It was tough to say good-bye to both of them but it was for the best. Neither of them had to see the other one dead. That was a blessing. (My grandma knew of my grandpa's death but never made it to the nursing home to say her final good-byes. She was actually preparing to go to the nursing home when she had her heart attack.)

These two people influenced my life in a very deep way. They showed me love and that is a most wonderful gift. That love carries me through life today.