The last time I saw my Grandma, I had gone up to Bend,
Oregon to be with some family after my sweet Grandpa had just passed away. On
the last morning there, as my cousin and I were saying our goodbyes and
preparing to hit the road home, I couldn’t quite bring myself to leave.
Standing in the living room near the door to the outside, I looked across the
room to my Grandma, feeling this sad heaviness that somehow, I might not see
her again. Looking over she caught me gazing at her, and said in my very
Grandma-like way, “oh stop, you’ll see me again. Now go!” I regret never making
it to Montana to be able to see her again.
Kathryn Jeanette Whittier was born on November 13th,
1921 in Santa Monica, CA. The year that Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physics, Amelia Earhart took her 1st flying lesson, Adolf
Hitler was named the leader of the Nazi party, Ernest Hemingway married Hadley
Richardson and Insulin was discovered. On this day, when Santa Monica had a
population of just over 15,000 people, and there were still hills of beautiful,
undeveloped land all around Santa Monica, my Grandma with her fiery spirit and
a force of nature in her own right, was born.
Lots of families have their own hierarchy system at work,
and mine was no different in this way. Except, instead of a whole system, it
all began and ended with my Grandma. She was the one and only matriarch- and it
wasn’t without tough love, mixed in with a little fear and awe of her in my
mind. Some of her favorite sayings were “be still,” in her authoritative tone.
Or “children should be seen and not heard.” She was of a different generation
in regard to respect to elders, and children’s places in the order of things.
As a kid, I was scared to death of her at times. Actually, even as I got older.
Haha. But damn, did I respect her!
On the flip side, she was also full of so much spunk &
humor, one of the funniest/wittiest people I’ve ever known. She was a lover of
animals and an advocate for underdogs/downtrodden of life, as well as an
amazingly talented artist with a natural proclivity to creativity. She even
somehow made the decorating of the Christmas tree every year seem like an art
showing of sorts!
Growing up, she moved around a lot- having gone to 16
different high schools before graduating from San Diego High School. This was
in most part to the fact that her Dad, my Great-Grandpa, was a Circus
performer- so they traveled around a lot for that. He, with his natural knack and connection to
animals, performed with them, as well as shows on his roller skates. Her Mom,
Kate, as far as the stories I’m told, was the toughest of ladies. She also had
a sister, Mary Jane, who she loved beyond belief, who passed away in the 1980’s.
This was something I don’t think my Grandma ever got over.
After my Grandma graduated high school, she went to work for
the Ryan Aeronautical Co., which
made important
contributions to the nation’s war efforts through the building of warplanes
used during World War II, through the Korean War and into the Cold War. Here,
she wrote the society column in the company paper. Later, she enlisted in the
WAAC’s (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps), which was established in 1941 as a
division of the United States Army for women to help with the war efforts.
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| Grandma on the army base |
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| Grandma '46 |
A few years after this in 1947 at
Lake Arrowhead, my Grandma met the love of her life, my Grandpa, William
Peckham. After a courtship of 6 weeks, they married in August of that same year.
Three kids, 5 grandkids and 2 great-grandkids later, I will never forget the
way my Grandpa used to look at my Grandma. In my family, you never argued or
talked back to my Grandma, because Grandpa was right there in the wings to
defend, if my Grandma hadn’t already put you in line first. He was as in just
as much awe of her as the rest of us - mixed with unwavering love. When my
Grandpa passed, it was just short of their 67th wedding anniversary.
Life in our family will never be the
same without the unity that my Grandma & Grandpa brought to all of us, in
the form of family gatherings and Thanksgivings and Christmas’s, family trips,
etc. Such is the sad part of life when those who bring everyone together, pass
on. I am appreciative for those years and memories in their homes, with the whole
family, the smell of my Grandma’s cooking, her famous tacos, her silly and
strong-willed nature, and the dynamic of all of us gathered together. As my
Grandma would say when telling me tales of rough times in life, or if I was
venting- “oh hey kid, that’s life.” With the tone of someone who’s been privy to
the highs and low’s life can bring and the wisdom of age, that everything will be okay. And then, on
December 7th, 2016 at 95 years old, my Grandma after her long and
colorful life, passed away. You were one of my favorite people, Grandma, and I will miss you.
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| Chase & Grandma at Ridge Racquet Club |
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| Christmas at G & G's |
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| Thanksgiving '84 |
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| 4 Generations! |
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| G & G 50's |
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| '46 |
