Another special grandmother

This was my maternal grandmother Clara Christina Pehrson Bennion. She was born in January 1869 and died in April 1949, just a few months after her 80th birthday.

Grandma's home was in Afton, Wyoming. It is located in a high mountain valley, Star Valley, and it is very cold there in the winter. Grandma came to Price to spend the winter with us for several years.

My memories of grandma are difficult to assess. Since I was so young when she passed away, sometimes I wonder whether the memories are mine or are they memories of the stories I was told about her. However, some are so vivid and personal that I cannot think they could come from anything other than my own experiences.

Grandma was a true "people person". She loved to talk and to visit with everyone. She was fun loving and had a very sharp wit and sense of humor. She got much joy and happiness out of fun little things.

One of the things I do remember is that I got to sleep with grandma in the front bedroom of our house. That was such a treat because she always had a good story she would tell to help me go to sleep. She would always say that I could take the hairpins out of her hair in the morning and play with them if I would be really quiet and not wake her. As you can see from the picture above, I still have those hairpins. I'm sure you can see how a little girl could imagine they were people, maybe even princesses and pretend a wonderful story right there in bed with grandma while being every so quiet not to wake her.

Across the street and up a couple of houses from our home was the Campus Inn. We lived just a short way from the Carbon College (now College of Eastern Utah) campus. The Campus Inn was a small hangout for students where they could go for a hamburger or ice cream, etc. I'm sure I was too little to go their by myself, and probably was there with someone. I had a new experience that I had never had before - there was a lady sitting in the Campus Inn smoking. As soon as I got home I went to grandma to tell her that I had seen a lady smoking. I vividly remember her saying, "Linda, that was not a lady, that was a woman". When I got older, I understood what grandma meant. A "lady" who was proper and refined would not participate in such a thing as smoking. Wow, what would she think today?

I also remember that when grandma was having her 80th birthday party in January of 1949, it was to be held at my uncle Merrill's home in Salt Lake. My brother John Theron and I learned a little song and dance to perform at the party. With our mom, anytime she could she found an opportunity for us to get up in front of people and perform. We practiced and practiced so we could surprise grandma with our performance. However, it was not to be since there was a huge blizzard and Price Canyon, which was treacherous when the roads were slick, was impassable. We all had to stay home except for mom, who took the train from Helper with a cooked turkey packed in a suitcase - her contribution to the festivities. Can you imagine the aroma that came from her luggage and all wondering where it was coming from.

It was the following April when all but my brother David went to the "picture show" and came home to a house full of anxiety because grandma had fallen and David couldn't lift her. She had a stroke and was taken to the hospital, where she was in a coma for a few days before she passed away. This was my beloved grandma that I had spent so much time with and slept with and played with and listened to her stories. I remember going to the funeral home and looking at her in the casket - never since that day have I wanted to go to viewings. Some childhood experiences are so engraved in your heart and mind that you just can't get over them. I still shed tears when I think about it. I remember that my cousin's husband slept in her funeral and I was so disgusted with him. How could he sleep! Ah, but then when I got older I found out he was a doctor doing his residency at the time and probably hadn't had much sleep. I guess I'm forgiven for judging him since I was only 6 years old and didn't understand.

Well, this is a mixture of memories, both of my own and of things I heard my mom and dad talk about. Either way, they are a part of me and who I am because of this wonderful person I called grandma.