Today is the anniversary of the passing of my beloved great grandmother Bertha Poppleton Maughan ( June 8th 1890 - April 29th 1990) - she was just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday! She was my grandmother’s mother and her husband was Charles Nibley Maughan (my middle namesake).
I was very fortunate to have known Great Grandma Maughan, although as a child I didn’t fully appreciate the importance of this. As with most life lessons, I learned it later in life and just now understand and value the experience. I have some wonderful memories of her.
I remember when my family visited her house one day, and we had our video camera and wanted to tape Great Grandma Maughan; but she didn’t want to be filmed until she put on her makeup. We pretended to turn the camera off and set it aside, but we kept it focused on her and taped her while she sat in her chair, putting on her face powder and lipstick, having a sweet conversation with us. It was kind of a sneaky thing that we did, but I don’t see any malicious harm in it.
I remember that I thought Great Grandma Maughan wasn’t old enough to be a great grandmother; when I would see her and her daughter (my grandma Margaret) together I would think they were sisters. It astounded me that she was nearly 100 years old! And she was very self-sufficient and sharp as a tack. I had heard stories of how she would stay up to date on current events, and never hesitated to write letters to various politicians with her concerns.
I have a few special mementos from Great Grandma Maughan - sweet little notes that she wrote me when I was 12, when I was still recovering from my accident. She sent beautiful, encouraging notes and even included some money for me. I appreciated it at the time, but not nearly as much as I do now! I am in awe of the love and concern she had for me!
But the most precious memory of Great Grandma Maughan is her poetry. She had numerous talents and one of them was her poetry writing - she even had a short collection of poems published. And when I took a poetry class in high school I had to compile a book of poems, which included poems written by others. I included one of her poems in my book, which was entitled “Life’s Voyage.”
Great-Grandma Maughan, thank you for your kindness and concern. I’m proud to share the name of your beloved husband, Charles. I’ll always be grateful to you for your letters during my recovery. And I am grateful for your beautiful poetry, a talent which was passed down to my grandmother and my mother, and my own interest in writing is due to this wonderful family line. I love you and miss you and anticipate the time when all of the family will be reunited!
Beautiful post about Grandma Maughan! We truly are blessed with the family line we come from!! Thanks for sharing this and posting these pictures. Love you, Jeremy!
ReplyDeleteI remember three things about visiting her. First, we got into so much trouble for playing in the ditch in front of her house ... and when I say "we" I really mean "me!"
ReplyDeleteSecond, I remember how excited she was that she was getting closer and closer to being on TV with Willard Scott (if she had turned 100 years old).
Lastly, I remember that I thought she was crazy when she told me "at this age when you remember something you should write it down." But what she really meant was that memories are precious and documenting them when they "pop" into your head is a great idea so that they are not lost forever.
So wise Great Grandma! We definitely miss you!