Another treasure of mine

When I attended my family reunion in the Pittsburgh area in 2001, my cousin had brought along all the old photos and momentos from the families. One of the things she showed me was a paper where my grandmother was practicing writing because she was taking her citizenship test. I am guessing that this was sometime in the 40's because I think she was gone by the time my sister was born. I know she was in her 70's when she was trying to become a citizen. My mom told me that her mother would write her letters and ask questions about the local government like who her congressman was and ask other questions my grandmother thought she should know and my mother would scramble to find answers to my grandmother's questions before writing her back because she was so embarrased my that she didn't know the answers to these questions. 

I am sorry these are so light. They were done in pencil and I don't have a scanner. I think you can still see it though.

My mother's natural mother had died shortly after my mother was born. My grandfather worked in the mines. My Uncle Mike's wife had her mother come to the US and to meet and marry my grandfather and raise the family.  She married my grandfather and shortly after my grandfather was killed in a mining accident. I found out that my Uncle Steve, my mother's brother, took his death very hard and went to go into the mine to get him and was crying and screaming. He wouldn't let my dad go. He was totally broken by his death. I believe he was still a young boy when this happened. My grandmother was left with the children to raise alone and she didn't leave her responsibilities. I found out when we went for a visit back to my mom's hometown in East Vandagrift that my grandmother sponsored many families from Europe. One of the people that she sponsored had a soda shoppe at the end of the hill. At the time I visited part of it was not used but you could still feel the nostalgia there. Apparently, my grandmother was a well respected citizen of the community here.

It wasn't until the reunion that I found out our families were not related by blood.

My mother often talked about her childhood growing up. About  my grandmother, the geese that would nip at your ankles and how her sister, my Aunt Rose, was beaten by her first husband. One of the things I always learned from my mother is the first time a man hits you is the last time a man hits you. She was a big believer in having your own savings account in your own name with your own money.  I think it just really scared her as a child to see her sister and her nephew hit. My uncle died before I was born and my aunt remarried. My Uncle Ray was a wonderful man from what I remember.

My sister and I believe that when my mother went deeper into Alzheimer's that she was back in her childhood in Pennsylvannia. I think those were her happiest times and they were the times she often told me stories about.