Bronis Fitzpatrck
Bronis Reid Fitzpatrick and friend about 1972.
These are some of my memories of my grandmother, Bronis Suadrey Reid Fitzpatrick. My memories are short; my grandmother went to be with the Lord when I was about eleven years old. I remember the funeral, I had never been to one before, the only other person I knew that had died was my Uncle John and I was too little to go to the funeral then. Anyhow, the wake was at my Grandma's house, lots and lots of people and enough food to feed a small army. I thought it was strange, actually at eleven I probably thought it was scary, to have a dead person in the house. I remember being in my grandmother's bedroom with my father's cousin Pat from New York, we were talking about Grandma not being in pain anymore in Heaven and how she will watch over us. That's when my Uncle Mike, my father's half brother, showed up. He was stationed in Germany then and so it took him a while to get home.
I can recall sitting by my Grandma's casket and my Aunt Ned came in the room and asked me if I was keeping her company. I thought that was odd because she was dead and didn't need company, she was with the angels. I was sitting there because I was sad, I was going to miss her. Anyhow, I remember sitting on the porch with some of the other kids, as kids do, the only one I recall is my cousin, Vickie Reid, and we were telling ghost stories. All of a sudden, Aunt Ned came walking around the corner of the house and scared the dickens out of us. That's about all I remember about the funeral. Oh, yeah, someone made a German Chocolate cake and it was the best cake I ever remember eating.
Other memories about my Grandma. We called her "Grandma in Mississippi". I also had my "Grandma in California". My Grandma in Mississippi lived in the country with my Aunt Ned and Uncle John. They had some cows and two ponds that we fished in. There was a tree that had little tiny sour apples. They had two dogs. The male dog was Bruiser, but I don't remember the female's name. They had machines that shelled peas and butter beans. I remember one year my older cousin, Eddie Bartimoccia, got his finger caught in the pea-sheller. I always thought he did it on purpose, so he didn't have to shell any more peas.
My Grandma in Mississippi was a round woman with curly white hair, actually, she looked like a Grandma. She and my Aunt Ned used to fix my sister and I a tea party with real tea in real teacups. It was pretty neat. My Grandma was a real good cook. (Older sister's note: She used to dice her vegetables and things for stuffing into these tiny little cubes -- no one else had the patience to cut them like she liked them so she always had that chore at the holidays. Every time I start to cut up onions and celery for stuffing, I remember Grandma. My first visit home after I got married she and I went through her recipe cards and she gave me all kinds of recipes -- saying "men like this one".)
I remember Grandma coming to stay at our house sometimes. The last time she was there was right before she died. During that stay, a stray kitten came into our yard and my parents told me I couldn't keep it, but my Grandma said I could. We named it Muppet and he was a really good cat (is there any other kind?).
I remember my Grandma was a diabetic and had to give herself shots every day in the leg.
I wish my children could have known their great-grandmother.
Written by Brenda Jones Clesi, August 1999, at Kenner, Louisiana.