Nana

Nana (Grace McClellan) lived next door with Grampa Roddy and Aunt Evelyn. They were old. Grampa Roddy didn’t interact much with us kids, and Aunt Evelyn (who wasn’t actually related to us) was quite deaf and not very mobile – mostly staying in her downstairs front room. But Nana, although technically our step-great grandmother, was nice to us kids. I liked to go over and visit with her every so often. She would play dominoes with me, and then give me those little chewy candies – the rectangular half white / half strawberry nugget with the different colored gummy Dot’s sort of things embedded in them. Nana would call on the phone when she needed anything and someone – depending on what was needed - would run next door. She defended me one day when Nenna was angry at me for coloring on the walls (upstairs front hallway near the top of the stairs was my favorite location). Nana scolded Mom for being so strict and offered that I was always welcome to stay with her. I was cool with that. When Mom asked what she would do if I colored on her walls, Nana decided she would then send me back. Again I was quite pleased. “Good, then I’d get to live at home again” I declared as if I had already moved out and was now returning.

One morning when I was 11, Nana called and Nenna got that “trouble” sound to her voice. Mom and Dad were back and forth, Nana came to our house for a bit which was unusual, and Wes told me Roddy died. I only remember seeing a big black station wagon parked in front of the house and some men bustling around, and then they brought a stretcher to the front door and took him out (covered by the white sheet) and drove away.
After that, Mom would occasionally send one of us over to visit – one at a time and on a rotating schedule.

Being a retired teacher, she would help me with learning my cursive writing. She also was the one who showed me how to tie my shoes – bunny-ear style (I still tie that way). Mom may have tried but it’s Nana I remember instructing me, foot up on a chair in her den. Up the side porch and into the kitchen I would poke my head and call to her, and she would come out of the den or Aunt Evelyns room or from upstairs and invite me in. We would sit at the kitchen table and chat, she'd have me do some small task for her, then she would send me to get the box of black wooden dominoes kept on the bookshelf in the den. The dining room had a big round table with the single large pedestal leg centered under it, but usually we’d play on the kitchen table. For good luck, I would touch the deer hoof that hung by the door – intrigued that it was real and that Grampa had made it.

When I was 13, I would stop in every Saturday morning and she would give me a list of groceries to pick up at Clarkes Store. I could be trusted going the 100 yards to the end of our street and crossing Main Street and returning with the items undamaged. I enjoyed having my special job and getting my little candy reward. One snowy Saturday morning I was playing outside and forgot. When Mom reminded me to do the store run, I knocked and poked my head into the kitchen – but she didn’t answer. I entered the kitchen and called but no response. I turned the corner and looked in the dining room and only saw her feet and ankles lying on the floor behind the dining table pedestal– black shoes and baggy tan stockings. I ran home and told Mom. That was my last and lasting image of Nana.
When Mom was cleaning out the house, we kids got to go in and select an item to keep. I wasn’t able to get the dominoes, so I selected a large white radio/alarm clock that had been in her bedroom. I used it for many years after.