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52 Ancestors (2020) – Week 4: Close to Home – Nana Lived Near Us

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

When we lived on East 9th Street, in Pittsburg, California, in the late 50s and early 60s, my dad’s mother lived across the street and down the block some. As children, we thought it was grand to have Nana so close. She had been a school teacher and we loved it when she read to us or taught us cute little songs.

She lived on the east side of a duplex. It had just three rooms: living, kitchen, and bedroom, and a bathroom. In the living room there was a murphy bed. I was always amazed by a bed that folded out of the wall! It was a fun place to spend the night, but I was a little worried about it springing back into the wall while we slept.

Also in the living room was a bookcase with children’s books and school readers left over from at Williams School in Concord, where she taught. It was in the living room where we would sit around her and listen to her read. When we got old enough, we’d sit in her chair and read from the readers ourselves.

The kitchen was small. I don’t remember many details, but she would give us a treat: sugar wrapped in lettuce leaves. Heaven forbid now, but then it was maybe her way to get us to eat vegetables.

Now, I’m not sure how my mother felt about Nana living so close. I wonder how often Nana might have expressed her opinion about the way Mom did things (or didn’t do things Nana’s way). It probably was helpful being able to send one or two of us down to Nana’s house, so Mom could get some peace. There were four of us by then, with the youngest having been born in 1960.

Then there was my dad. He had been the baby of the family and maybe still a bit of a mama’s boy when he got married. I was pretty young when we moved to Walnut Creek and don’t remember exactly the dynamics between Dad and Nana. She ended up leaving Pittsburg and moving to Burlingame, I think, to be closer to her daughters.


Nana would still come to visit and stay with us a few days. She drove a black Volkswagen, made in the 50s with an oval back window. We loved that car and would fight over who got to sit in the cubby way back. She came to stay with us when our parents would take a short trip to Tahoe, and the two times our baby sisters were born. We also went to visit her, especially when she got too old to drive. Her apartment in San Mateo butted up to the public park and we had family picnics there.

Nana with the first 5 grandchildren. I'm sitting on her lap.


Copyright © 2020 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

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