When my grandma was born, it was January, 1940. She had two older brothers, Burton who was two-years-old and Eddie who was four. Grandma’s family had no TV like we do today. They had a radio that they listened to. Her brothers listened to Superman. Back then, her mother didn’t work like our mothers do today. She stayed home with her children and took care of things like cooking and cleaning which were also very important jobs

In 1940, World War Two was going on. America was not part of the war yet. That year, Italy declared war on Britain and France and eventually invaded Egypt and Greece. Germany attacked London, England and it was called “The Blitz.” In the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was re-elected as president.

By the time my grandmother had turned four-years-old in 1944, her father had gone off to fight in World War Two. In 1941, Japan bombed a military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and that was America’s cause to join the war and fight. Her father had left to go and fight the war with many other fathers. It made her mother and the other mothers nervous and afraid the men may no return. What they didn’t know was the war would soon end and America would win it along with Great Britain and their other allies.

My grandmother would play with the other children in the neighborhood. One of the neighbors had a television, which was rare at that time. During the day, her brothers were at school and at school they had drills like we have fire drills today. Instead of fire drills, they prepared for emergency attacks by their enemies in the war. Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president again.

In 1947, my grandmother was going to school. She was seven-years-old. Her father had returned from the war. She was lucky because some of the fathers did not return. Her parents had another baby the year before and named her Dorothy. Dorothy was part of the generation called “the baby boomers” because they were all born right after World War Two ended.

That was the year that Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, a baseball team. His was a first because Jackie Robinson was an African American man and at that time, they couldn’t do a lot at that time. That year, grandma’s family bought a television. They got to see the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn dodgers in the first World Series aired on television. Besides television, the family could go to the movies. In 1947, they could see movies like Miracle On 34th Street and Great Expectations. Also that year, a book called The Diary Of A Young Girl was published. It was Anne Frank’s diary. Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who was killed in World War Two during the Holocaust.

When my grandma was twelve-years-old, the year was 1952. That year, the King of England died. His name was George the Sixth. His daughter Elizabeth the Second took over as queen. Grandma’s family was English so his death made grandma’s parents a little sad. They had a special dinner in his honor and celebrated the new queen.

My grandmother and her friends would walk around town together. They could go and see movies alone. They sometimes would go to the record store and buy records. There were no CD’s or Mp3 players back then.

Grandma liked to read books and she even liked to write her own. She was the best reader and speller in her class. The teacher liked to read her stories. Grandma could write plays and she and her friends would perform them for their younger siblings. She was a really smart kid.

My grandmother turned sweet sixteen in 1956. She was old enough to drive a car. Her first car was a Ford. At school, she and her friends took classes like home economics, mathematics, music, and French. Not as many people went to college back then as they do now but grandma wanted to be a teacher so she had to work really hard.

Back in the 1950’s a man named Elvis Presley was becoming famous. They called him the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Grandma liked his music but her parents didn’t like it when she listened to his records. Grandma’s dad didn’t mind her music so much because he secretly liked them too. Sometimes, when her mother wasn’t home, her dad and her would grease each other’s hair and sing and dance along to Elvis’s records.

When my grandmother was eighteen in 1958, she bought a book called The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac. Kerouac was a beatnik, meaning he lived his life on the road, traveling. My grandmother decided that she wanted to go on the road as well. She and her two best friends, Bonnie and Nancy took a road trip after graduation.

The country was changing at that time. African Americans in the country did not have it as good as the white people. They could not sit together at the movies or on busses and they could not go to school together. Black people were looked down upon but things were changing for the better. In September, The U.S. Supreme court said that Little Rock, Arkansas schools must integrate. That meant that black children could go to the same school as the white children.

The year my grandmother turned twenty was 1960. She had returned home from her road trip and she Bonnie, and Nancy went their separate ways because they all had different plans for life. Grandma left for Boston where her brothers were going to school so that she could go to school there as well. Her brother Burton had a friend named Henry. Grandma liked Henry and soon after they married. Henry is my grandfather. Grandma and Grandpa did everything together. They went to Red Sox games at Fenway Park and they went dancing with friends. By the time autumn came around, grandma’s friend Bonnie came to live in Boston as well.

That year, a man from Boston, John F. Kennedy became the president of the United States.

My grandmother was twenty-five in 1965. That winter, a man named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and 2,600 others were arrested during demonstrations in Alabama. Dr. King was part of the Civil Rights movement. He fought for equal rights.

That was the year my grandparents had a baby. That baby was my Uncle Sam. Grandma and Grandpa’s mothers were there when Sam was born and so were Bonnie and Nancy.

Later in the summer of that year, Eddie and Burton joined the army and went to Vietnam to fight a war there. It was a hard decision but Grandpa did not go to war. He had a family to take care of. My grandma was nervous about her brothers fighting in the war. Just like World War Two, many young men and fathers went to fight and just like before, some would not return. That year, grandma and grandpa moved out of Boston and into a house outside of the city where they could be closer to grandpa’s parents.

When my grandma was twenty-eight in 1968 she gave birth to my father, Robert. Grandpa was a teacher and Grandma took care of her sons at home. She tried painting and selling her art but she wasn’t as successful as she thought. She was still able to sell them at local shops. The late 1960’s brought upon a group of people called hippies and my grandma was one of them. She wore her hair long and she walked around barefoot and she loved nature.

That year, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. It was a sad time for the Civil Rights movement. Grandma wrote letters to her brothers in Vietnam telling them all about what had been going on in the country and about Dr. King. They wrote her back telling her about their time in the jungles of Vietnam. Luckily, the two returned home that year.

In 1972, my grandmother turned thirty-two. She had another baby that year, a daughter named Lillian. After Lillian was born in early Spring, grandma got a job as a teacher in the fall. She had gone back to school two years before to get her degree so she could start teaching. She taught art at the high school. It was good because grandpa taught English at the same school so they could be together during the day. The neighbor babysat Lillian and my dad and Sam was at school during the day. After working for a while she was able to buy her own car.

While her brothers were still fighting in Vietnam, President Richard Nixon ordered a “Christmas bombing” of the country. It made her and her parents nervous whenever they heard of new attacks in Vietnam because they had cousins and friends fighting in the war.

When my grandma was thirty-four, the year was 1974. Uncle Sam was nine-years-old, my father Robert was six, and Aunt Lillian was two. They took a family vacation to Florida where grandma’s parents had moved. Down in Florida, my grandma discovered the electric guitar. She bought one and took up lessons and even taught Uncle Sam. Grandpa didn’t really like how it sounded at first but he was soon asking grandma to play and sing to him. Grandma began buying records by Patti Smith, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles.

In August of that year, President Nixon resigned and President Gerald Ford took over. Grandma and grandpa’s friends who had been fighting in Vietnam returned home. One of them was injured but he healed.

When my grandma was thirty-seven, she began playing local concerts at summer festivals. The year was 1977. She played her guitar and sang and she let Uncle Sam play along as well. Sam had started playing the drums and he could sing well for a twelve-year-old. Grandpa would watch from the audience with my dad and Aunt Lillian.

That year Star Wars hit movie theaters and became very popular with grandma and grandpa. It inspired both grandma and grandpa to want to write stories. They tried writing a book together but then decided not to publish it. They concluded that science wasn’t their thing.

Later that year, grandma and grandpa had enough money to renovate their house. They added on a fourth bedroom so Sam and my dad didn’t have to share anymore. They also added a sunroom where grandma could paint from.

My grandma was forty-three when the first woman went into space. Her name was Sally Ride. The year was 1983. That summer, Aunt Lillian’s Girl Scout troop held a talent show. Grandma and Lillian performed a skit that grandpa wrote. Grandma really liked acting and so did Lillian. They took up drama classes together at the community center. Grandma was a good actress. She liked acting so much so she performed a monologue for the drama class’s talent show.

During the summer, grandma and grandpa went to California on a second honeymoon. It was there that grandma bought her first CD. CD’s were something new and they became very popular, replacing records. In California, grandma bought another guitar. She and grandpa also found a surprise in the pet store window. It was a small puppy they bought for their children.

In 1986 when my grandma was forty-six, she left teaching at the high school to teach music at the performing arts center. She was an amazing guitar player. She put together a show where the students could perform songs together to raise money for the center.

That year, Uncle Sam started playing baseball for his college. Grandma and grandpa would go to watch his games. Grandma had always liked watching baseball but she never played it. They both really liked it and started playing together. They would play at the baseball field at the elementary school and soon grandma joined the woman’s softball league in town. Grandma was a fit middle-aged woman who could outrun most of the women younger than her on the team. Grandpa’s brother had season tickets to Fenway Park that he gave to grandma because she loved playing the sport so much. However, that year, the Red Sox lost to the Yankees in the World Series.

My grandma turned fifty in the year 1990. That year, my Uncle Sam and his wife had twins. That was also the year that my dad got married to my mom. It was a happy year for the family. My parents got married in the summer at the church. My dad and my mom moved nearby grandma and grandpa. Grandma said that when they had children she wanted to be near them.

Uncle Sam’s wife was a science teacher and she did a lot of research about nature and the environment. She wanted to write a book about pollution and the planet and that interested grandma. So, grandma started reading books about the environment. She learned about the theory of global warming and the ozone layer and air pollution. She became really involved in it. That was the year that President Bush signed the Clean Air Act. The Act ordered pollution-reducing changes to the automobile and fuel industries. That was a good thing because it would reduce pollution in the air and make it healthy for us to breath.

In 1992 my grandma was fifty-two. Aunt Lillian turned twenty that year and moved out of grandma and grandpa’s house. It was the first time grandma and grandpa lived alone. But they saw the twins a lot. That year my mom and dad had their first baby. It was my older brother Nathan. Grandma and grandpa loved having the babies around. Sometimes they would send mom and dad and Uncle Sam and his wife out just so they could baby-sit their grandchildren. Uncle Sam and dad didn’t mind though, they liked going out alone with their wives.

In Los Angeles, a black man named Rodney King was beaten by police officers. It sparked riots in the city over police brutality and racism. Later that year, Bill Clinton is elected president. Grandma said that in December, U.S. troops were sent to a country in Africa called Somalia. They went to guard food for the people there but it broke out into a battle.

In 1994, the Woodstock concert was held. It was an old weekend-long music festival that was held when my grandma was in her twenties. In 1994, however, my grandma was fifty-four and a big party like that might irritate her sore legs. Grandpa wouldn’t let her go to Woodstock because he thought it would be a little dangerous. To make matters worse, the Major League Baseball players went on strike and grandma couldn’t go to any games. The World Series wasn’t held either.

Since she couldn’t go to any baseball games, grandma put one on herself. She got all the kids in the neighborhood together and they split up into teams and had a “Neighborhood Series.” Grandpa was the captain for one team and grandma was the captain for the other. Grandma’s team won. The neighbor kids liked playing so much grandma started holding games every week in the backyard.

I was born in 1999 when my grandma was fifty-nine. That was also the year that Aunt Lillian got married. It was another happy year for the family. Grandma got everyone together and we had a family reunion. Even grandma’s old friends Bonnie and Nancy came over.

Later that year, another Woodstock was held. Grandma didn’t go and that was a good thing because it was an absolute disaster. It was said to be completely commercialized and not like the original festival. People set fires and many people got hurt. Star Wars Episode One premiers and it rekindles grandma and grandpa’s science-fiction flame. After seeing the movie, they start writing stories together again. Luckily, they wrote a few good ones and published them on the local newspapers. People liked them so much that they wrote a few more. Grandma and grandpa saw The Sixth Sense that year and it sparked what my Aunt Lillian calls “childish enthusiasm.” They wanted to see if they could find a ghost so they went into the woods one night and tried to find one. Everyone was preparing for the New Year because it would be the year 2000. People were preparing for their computers to melt down and some theorized the end of the world. Nothing happened though.

In 2001 my grandma turned sixty-one. That year my parents had their third baby, my sister Gwen. She looked just like grandma and everyone was hoping that she wouldn’t be as crazy as grandma was. Grandpa said that the world needed more grandmas because without grandma it would be boring.

That year my grandparents took a vacation to New York City to celebrate their anniversary. Grandma had always wanted to go to New York. Later that year, there was an attack in New York City. Grandma said that terrorists from the Middle East hijacked two American planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center. Grandma said it felt like the world stood still that day, and that she didn’t know what to do. She had just been in the city a couple months earlier and now the city was black from all the smoke and fire and ash. Grandma said the terrorist attack brought the country closer. That attack on America would spark a manhunt for the man responsible, Osama bin Laden.

Now it’s 2006 and my grandma is sixty-six-years-old. She still has red in her hair and she can still do a somersault. Grandma can still play electric guitar and sing in tune. Grandma is my hero because she did so much in life and never had any regrets. She was a beatnik, an independent woman, a wife, a mom, a starving artist, a hippie, a teacher, a musician, writer, actress, a softball player and baseball enthusiast, a grandma, an environmentalist, a neighborhood baseball coach, and a writer again.

Grandma had a fulfilling life and grew up and lived life even when scary and unexplainable things were going on in the world. That’s what my grandma’s life was like.

Bettina Benoit

Illustrations by Bettina Benoit and Emily Miller