Great-Grandma Carr

  The twins' Great-Grandma Carr passed away last week.  We were fortunate enough for the twins to be with Grandma many times over the last four years.  However, I'd like to use this post to show the twins what kind of grandmother their great-grandmother was to me.

 First off, I'm pasting her obituary here so the twins will be able to read it when they are older.

  Marilyn L. Carr, age 85, of 4219 Ambrosius Rd., New Albany (Wilmot), PA passed way Thursday morning, June 23, 2016 at the Skilled Nursing Unit of Guthrie Towanda Memorial Hospital.  She was born on May 23, 1931 in Wyalusing, PA the daughter of the late Clyde and Alice Lyke Fiske. She graduated from Wyalusing High School with the class of 1948.

   Marilyn married Frank D. Carr, Sr. on February 28, 1948. She was a housewife/homemaker for her husband and five children. She also helped on the family farm, the Wil-Val Farm, with her husband and children.

   Marilyn was a member of the Spring Hill United Methodist Church, the Wilmot Grange #512, and the Wyalusing Mountain Side Lanes Women’s 6:30 and 9:00 Bowling Leagues. She was a former Cub Scout Leader. She enjoyed knitting, sewing, cooking, gardening, and hunting. She took great pleasure in swimming in her pool especially when her grandchildren were there. Marilyn was well known as a loving and caring person.

   She is survived by her husband of 68 years, Frank D. Carr, Sr. of home; her children and spouses, Bonnie and William Keeney of LeRaysville, PA, Richard and Katherine Carr of Wilmot, PA, William and Carol Carr of Wilmot, PA, and Frank and Connie Carr, Jr. of Wilmot, PA; son-in-law, Jay Stanton of Wilmot, PA; 17 grandchildren; 44 great-grandchildren; her siblings and spouses, Aileen Learn of Spring Hill, PA, Louis and Jeanne Fiske of Spring Hill, PA, and Pat and Wayne Parsons of Wilmot, PA; as well as many nieces and nephews. Besides her parents she was preceded in death by her daughter, Sue Stanton (December 29, 2012); her great-granddaughter, Cali Lee Carr (October 3, 2011); and her sister, Janice Benscoter (October 30, 2012). 

  Now for my memories.....

 I was fortunate enough to grow up a quick 4 minute walk from my grandparent's dairy farm.  My childhood was filled with helping in the barn, feeding calves, playing in the hayloft, driving skid-steers, riding 4-wheelers on the many trails through the surrounding woods, building forts, swimming in creeks and ponds, camping out, playing hide and seek in the corn fields, spotlighting, hunting with my dad, and just being a country kid.  I loved it. 

Wal-Val Farm

My cousin, Shauna, took this picture the night after our grandmother passed away.  She wrote, "A gorgeous sunset tonight over Carr Farm, can't help but think that it is Grandma smiling down."

 My grandparents were a huge part of my life since we lived so close to them.  Just hanging out in their kitchen talking, doing the crossword or cryptoquote puzzles with my Grandma, snacking, putting together a puzzle, messing around with the magnets on her fridge, or playing with the many fun toys my Grandma had fills my memories.

Not sure who this is....Shauna maybe??

Morning coffee with the men was always super fun for a little kid!  You got to hear all kinds of stories and gossip!

This is me sitting at my parent's kitchen table with Grandma and Grandpa Carr.

My parents' house again -- Grandma and Grandpa holding Shauna - Colleen in the corner maybe holding Brandon?

 Winter could be long and boring.  I remember Grandma's house always being really warm and cozy when we walked up to visit her.  She would often have a fresh loaf of bread sitting on the table or be busy with another knitting project or going through old pictures and keepsakes.   Putting together puzzles and playing Hot Dice helped to fill those winter months until we could get back in the pool!

 Every Christmas Eve as far back as I can remember was spent at my grandparent's house.  Many of my aunts and uncles and cousins would come for the afternoon.  Lots of yummy food was there -- including my Grandma's famous fudge!  I remember my Grandpa snooping around the kitchen looking for the fudge one year.  Grandma had hidden it on the back porch so Grandpa wouldn't eat it before the party started!!
  My Grandma bought every single child, grandchild, and great-grandchild a present every single year.  For a long time, she would get a Christmas ornament with each of the grandchildren's names engraved or written on it along with the year.  My mom and I helped her find these ornaments a few years.  It was always a challenge but we all felt quite accomplished when we saw them hanging from the garland strung between the door frames waiting for the recipient to find them each year.  I still had many of these ornaments before the house fire -- I even had some stockings crocheted by my great-grandmother with the money that she gave still inside it.  I'm not sure if any of these were saved after the fire but I have my memories of them.

I remember decorating Grandma's Christmas tree with my cousins for quite a few years.  We loved doing it - especially the icicles and the little snowmen we'd set up underneath the tree!  Grandma hated how bare underneath the tree looked after Christmas Eve and decided to wrap up some empty boxes to make it look less bare.  She labeled the boxes To: MT....Get it?? Empty?? 

 My grandmother had an ornament that was a bird in a nest.  If you turned it on, it did this really long, high pitched bird whistle.  My Aunt Bonnie HATED it!  We always loved turning it on and then waiting to see her reaction when she heard it.

I'm not sure if this is Grandpa Carr but I do remember him making quite a few visits as Santa Claus!

These binders were a very special gift one year.  I am realizing that my love of scrap booking, blogging, and capturing memories has been inherited from my Grandma.  She kept EVERYTHING that had meaning to it.  She put anything from report cards to birth or wedding announcements to articles she cut out of the paper in these binders.  Thankfully, the binder survived the fire.

This is one of the pictures that was included in the binder above.  This is my mom -- maybe 2nd grade?

 I love Grandma Carr's handwriting -- she did a lot to share memories with us!

Grandma, Grandpa, Jason and me

My mom and dad are pictured here along with me carrying the big present!

Grandma and Grandpa made the rounds every Christmas morning to all of their children's houses to see what presents Santa Claus brought.  I have many good memories of being excited to show them everything and just spend time sitting around the living room talking.

 A HUGE highlight of my childhood was the annual Labor Day party.  Again -- something I remembered going to almost every Labor Day of my childhood.  It was held at my grandparent's house and they would roast a pig.  Getting up at 4:30 the morning of the party and going up to check out the status of the pig was always super exciting.  I always knew I had a long day ahead of me of swimming in the pool, dancing to the band, eating delicious chicken and pig, drinking birch beer that was on tap, riding 4-wheelers, eating cotton candy, seeing fireworks, hopefully seeing my mom thrown in the pool (she HATED to get her hair wet!) and seeing my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and many, many neighbors and friends have a great time partying all together. 

At some point during the party, the band always called the Carr and Stanton families up front to be recognized. 

Lots and LOTS of memories dancing on their yard!

Grandma Carr LOVED the Labor Day party!

 Grandma and Grandpa Carr always had dogs that they loved dearly.  This is Toby -- the dog they had during my childhood.

 My grandfather showed so much love to my grandmother throughout the years.  He really cared for her and loved her dearly up until the end.  They were married for 68 years.

My grandparents had a lot of close friends that I remember spending time with.  Mary Saxe, pictured above, was one of those friends.  She was a riot!

 Joan Pond, my grandma, my mom, and I did a road trip to New York City one summer.  This was a big deal for us country folk!!

Love that smile on my grandma's face.

I remember walking through China Town and my grandmother telling me to hold my purse close!

Both of my grandmothers were there for my 6th grade graduation.  Grandma Carr on the left, Grandma Stanton on the right.

 A few other pictures I came across...

Dushore Dairy Parade

My parents' wedding -- Carr parents on the left, Stanton parents on the right

Grandma Carr and the "campers" -- MANY MANY memories of spending time with these lovely ladies.

This picture was taken in the Wilmot Grange Hall.  TONS of memories in this building!  Grandma was the Master of the Grange for quite a few years and my parents were members.  We went to tons of square dances, Halloween parties, Christmas parties, Jamborees.  I loved helping out with the activities and feeling like I was an adult!

Jason and Joanne's wedding

 As was mentioned several times earlier in this post, my grandmother had a pool.  I believe this is the keystone of my memories of my grandmother and my childhood.  Almost every single day during the summer, my mother and I would walk the short distance to my grandmother's pool to spend the afternoon cooling off in the water.  We'd walk into her house and talk for a few minutes in the kitchen.  My Grandma would then say, "Well, guess I'll go put my suit on."  We'd walk out to the pool, pull the cover, check the temperature, and get in.  My grandma would simply float around the pool on a noodle for quite a while until she'd say, "Guess I'll get my head wet."  She would then do a slow, easy dive into the water, do a few strokes with her head underwater and then come up saying, "Ahhhh...that feels good!"  When our day was coming to an end, she would advise us to stay under water to stay warm until the sun came out.  Once the sun came out from behind a cloud, we all then made a run for our towels and would sit on the warm concrete benches to get warmed up and dried off.  We would then run up to my grandma's back porch where we knew there would be tons of great ice cream treats in her cooler.  Mom and I would then walk down to our house and relax for a bit before dinnertime.  If we were lucky, we'd head back up after dinner and do some more swimming.  This was always very exciting for me as a kid.  I loved seeing my uncles and boy cousins swimming in the pool who were usually working on the farm during the day.  They would do big cannon balls and my grandma would yell at them, "Don't splash the water out!!"  The best was when my grandpa decided to get into the pool.  He had never learned to swim so would wear a huge inner tube and goggles.  He'd inch out to the end of the diving board with all of us watching and cheering him on.  He'd then jump into the water and stroke, stroke, stroke, until he got back to the little end.  I always loved this!

Sitting on the steps chatting....that was a great time.  Love Joan cracking up on the bench - who knows what we were taking about!  One quick thing about that bench -- during the early years, it was called the penalty bench.  You had to sit there for a few minutes if you were caught doing anything bad in the pool!

Mike, Lily, Nick, and me

My grandmother was quite handy around the house and the pool.  She had figured out how to heat her pool with the wood stove pictured to the left of her.  The water was pumped through the wood stove and then back into the pool.  Checking and fixing the fire were important jobs during the summer!  She also had an intricate set-up of hoses all around the pool that ran the pool water through to heat it up in the sun before emptying back into the pool.

When I got home after my grandmother's viewing, I decided to look through old pictures for this post.  This was the very first picture I found.  It is now in my wallet.  This really sums up their relationship.  So much happiness being together in a pool.