This is my gram, Edith V. Easter, 97, of Concord, VT. She passed away on May 4, 2008 and her funeral will be held on Monday. It is not surprising that I’ve been thinking a lot about her. She was a tough woman who lived in Vermont her entire life. She was a mother of eight, grandmother of twenty, and great grandmother of nine. She was at various times a butcher, an ace shot with a pistol, a contender at car shows with her ‘72 Plymouth Duster, a collector of owls, a whiz at cribbage and Yahtzee, and sharp and stubborn old bird.
As a young child, I always wished for the kind of Grandma you saw on T.V. — the kind the doted on you, pinched your cheeks and made you cookies. It took me some time to realize that I wouldn’t trade my Gram for the world. She showed me what it was to be strong and independent woman — to overcome challenges with a stubbornness and a New Englander’s sense of fatalism that was truly admirable. I thought she would live forever. But more importantly, she lived how she wanted to live. I miss her very much.
