I learned powerful lessons in kindness from my maternal Granny. She lived with her daughter in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. My family lived twenty miles east. We visited once a month. Granny stayed with us during the summer. As a kid I soaked up all Granny’s lessons like a sponge.
Her favorite hangout was a convenience store at the end of her street. She took me there hand-in-hand. I was always introduced to Ed, the owner. He led me to a long glass-covered case, Granny following close behind. My eyes bugged out as I beheld a huge variety of penny candy. Granny quickly took over. She poked her long finger as she said, Ed, give this boy some candy. Give me some these, some of those, a few of those licorice straps, a dozen Hershey bars, and put them in a tut (paper bag to her). Now this is yours. Be sure to share them with your sisters.
The real zinger was our walk to Fromm’s ice cream store. I always chose a popsicle with chopped nuts embedded in the chocolate. Several times I discovered FREE on the popsicle stick. Granny kept those sticks so we could get a free treat on my next visit.
Every year I ordered a box of seed packets from a local nursery. If I sold all fifty packets I received an exciting prize. My paternal Granny had a big garden, but she never bought more than two packets. The other Granny had no garden. She always bought half of my seeds. What she did with them I never knew. I did know that she had a big heart for a little kid.
Granny belonged to the Evangelical United Brethren church. She never attended. When she came to our farm for the summer we invited her to attend the Seventh-day Adventist church with us. Her stock reply was No. You just go on. I’ll keep the home fires burning. Once an EUB always an EUB. I had no idea what her church taught. I thought they must forbid women to cut their hair because Granny’s hair fell below her buttocks. My sisters argued about who would shampoo and comb her gray tresses. I figured EUB people must teach a person to be kind like Granny.
She was loyal to her soap operas. She put her ear close to the radio. She talked to the actors and actresses by name. When one of them acted unkindly she would say You listen here! You shant (should not) do that. That’s not kind.
Her suitcase contained dozens of prizes she had bought with cereal box tops. She rewarded us for kind behavior. For years I treasured my space ring.
One sad day my parents took me and my sisters to see Granny for the last time. We sat quietly in the parlor while the adults went upstairs and gathered around her bed. When I heard them coming downstairs without talking, I knew there would be no more trips to Ed’s store and Fromm’s ice cream store. I would see no more trinkets in her suitcase. No more seed packet sales. I didn’t see Granny that day. I saw her in the casket at the funeral home two days later.
About sixty years after her death I went to Hummelstown. I stood in the gazebo across from Granny’s house. I drove by Fromm’s store. Ed’s store was closed. A flood of memories came. The kindnesses of a non-attending EUB Christian once again impacted my life. As I drove out of Hummelstown, Granny’s lessons were still as clear as ever.