LIZZIE SULLIVAN

Lizzie was my widowed paternal grandmother. I don't know the extent of her education. I just know that when I was visiting her up in Wilmerding as a skinny asthmatic child, and got sick, she really knew how to make me well. I loved my Grandma. She didn't talk all that much but was a great listener.

Lizzie was a good Lutheran, attended church regularly and didn't like Catholics. That included my maternal grandparents as well as my Mom. As the years wound down though it appeared Mom's biggest sin in Grandma's eyes was that she had married Lizzie's son.

It was always a challenge when Lizzie came down to visit us when Mom was sick . Grandma insisted on doing the dishes. It soon became apparent that Mom & Lizzie differed not only on religion. Lizzie had discovered a unique place for all the clean dishes. This usually ended up with Mom and her arguing when Mom came down from her sick bed to check out the noise.

Nowadays, I'd be willing to bet Grandma did it on purpose. She did have a great twinkle in her eyes. She was nice to lean against when you shared a chair with her. She was not so nice when she insisted on drying your hair with a rough towel. To this day I swear Lizzie was responsible for that widening bald spot on the back of my head.

Grandma kept a secret potion for coughs called "Father John's" medicine. (yeah, I do realize the irony.) But. Lizzy knew her stuff as Father Johns did the trick. I had no idea why until the time I joined Ardmore Pharmacy as a soda jerk , shelf cleaner, and inventory taker.

There in the back of one of the shelves I found a long forgotton brown bottle of Father Johns with his picture on the front. Reading the label I discovered it's primary ingredient was codeine with a little cinnamon flavor thrown in as a disguise.

When Lizzy wasn't dispensing illegal drugs she had other remedies for whatever bothered you. Her homemade potato soup could heal the dead. Her combination of butter and brown sugar in a large tablespoon made every day a little bit better. I ate well at Grandma's. I believe one of her Apple pies can still be found at the Smithsonian.

Lizzie's main ingredient in the rest of her cooking was "lard". No one has ever duplicated her mashed potatoes.

Grandma taught me how to play some card games starting with Old Maid which we would play at her kitchen table. Somehow Lizzie ended up with most of the Dopey Dora's and other things you might not want. She also taught me Canasta.

None of her babysitting visits to our basement apartment at Lenox and Atlantic could take place without the two of us playing Canasta. I usually won. I was an outrageous cheat - but, she didn't seem to notice. She just kept smiling that Lizzie smile of hers.

Lizzie employed me as a child/servant to do simple things like threading needles and using our dial up phone when she wanted to chat with her friends like Mrs. St. Clair back in Wilmerding.

This gossipy old scotswoman loved to talk - and talk - and talk. Practically every sentence in a conversation with my Grandma ended with the words "so, I did". I always mimicked her after she left Grandma's kitchen. Lizzie would scold me. Then she would smile.

I was also a big help in holding yarn bundles and thread spools as she made those beautiful Afghans and crocheted hankerchiefs that were so amazing she sold them back home.

I loved to have Mom put one of Lizzie's afghans around me when I was sick. I'd listen to the soaps with Mom - eat my tomato soup and grilled cheese and afterwards put my fingers through the holes of the afghans - as I curled up on the settee with my eyes closed imagining what the characters looked like.

When Lizzie could no longer take care of herself or maybe just didn't have the money anymore, my Aunt Deb and Uncle Jim took her back to Lima, Ohio with them so she could live out her life in peace.

She never saw any of my children but proudly clenched the hospital picture of Bruce, my oldest, that I gave her as the car pulled out for Ohio. The fact that he, like all new born kids, looked like a gerbil did nothing to diffuse her Lizzie smile.

Lizzie died too soon after.