Three Generation of Peckhams: Carol, Jill, and Livy Wearing the Bracelet

Carol

My daughter Jill Sim wearing it.  

More generations for the bracelet.  Here are some of my random memories of Gramma:

When I was about six Grandma was babysitting for us for a few days. I had written a postcard to Mom and Dad, and had some vague idea that it needed a stamp.  Grandma said all I had to do was to draw one.  I drew a tiny George Washington head enclosed in a scalloped-edge square on the front of the postcard. She clapped the card into our mailbox, and I watched the mailman pick it out and drive away. I don't remember when I learned you couldn't really draw your own stamp, and I still don't know how the postcard got to Mom and Dad. 

Lee's first wedding was the first and only time I ever saw Grandma, well, drunk. The very small reception was held at a kind of roadhouse near Averill Park. It was a difficult event and probably all the adults drank too much, but I only remember Grandma wearing a plain brown suit and a brown hat, which sat on the top of her head and by the end of the evening had tipped over one eye. 

Other than that wedding, my image of her is not wearing anything other than a long plaid shirt during the night, which, during the day, she tucked into khaki pants.  This may be an entirely false memory.  Does anyone remember what else she wore?  Also what did she cook and was she a good one? 

My granddaughter Olivia Sim wearing it.

I wanted to be like her when I grew up, funny, dry, irreverent, never sentimental, and, at least for me, always comforting in a leathery way.  (I think she must have been tough on her daughters -- at least I know she was on Mom.) The last time I saw her, Grandma was into her nineties and we were all gathering at Barbara's (I think).  Ginny brought Hal, her then new boyfriend, who was considerably older than any of us.  After he was introduced to Grandma, she peered at him and asked, "Didn't I know you in high school?"

As we all know, her father was a dedicated atheist, but as Grandma aged, she became interested in religion.  I don't think her investigation of faith got any deeper than intellectual dabbling, but I must have been about 14 or 15 when she told me that if she had joined any religion, she would have been a Baha'i. Since this was in the fifties, I am surprised that she even found any information on it. I Googled Baha'ism while I was writing this  and can understand her attraction to its principles, and it made me realize why the sixties did not impose a big culture shock in our family.   

Footnote: I thought it might be interesting if some of us could include memories of Grandpa, but I have almost none, only that he was a very calm and comforting presence.  I can only visualize him sitting with Donny on his lap (whom he called "Donkey") and eating blue cheese.  As far as I can tell, it's the only thing he ate.  I had in fact never known anyone who ate blue cheese before. By the way, if you want to learn about his career as chief engineer of the Franklin Automobile Company, there's a nice history of it on Amazon, with several mentions of him.