In Memory of Grammy

*This is going to be a long entry :)

Well, my Grammy passed away last Saturday. Not a fun thing for anyone, but I am happy now that she is not suffering anymore. She certainly lived quite a life. She was born in 1932 as Ethel Bernadette Connors, named after her mother who thought that her own name (Ethel) was the most beautiful name ever, which Grammy vehemently disagreed with. As she was the only girl with 3 brothers, she went by Sis and it stuck throughout her life.

She met my Grampy, Vadron Asbury, a man who also hated his name and who was stationed in Brooklyn with the Army, at the Old Oak Bar in Brooklyn. The bar doesn't exist anymore, but my uncles are determined to find out where it was and what happened to it. The got married in 1955. As an active army man, my Grampy was stationed in many place such as Brooklyn, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Okinawa, and Merritt Island. He also served in Vietnam. Grammy took all the kids to live in Okinawa, Japan while he was stationed there. This experience caused her to never set foot on a plane in her entire life (she had 3 boys and a new baby girl who were driving her crazy and there was some type of severe turbulence).

By the time they were sent to Merritt Island, my mom was 13 years old and my Grampy was an army recruiter. He even recruited his oldest son (my uncle Ken) and I have the article from the paper when he did. He was the head recruiter for the state of Florida for a while too. Anyway, that's a little about Grammy I have learned from her own telling and from my mom and her brothers. She had 3 sons and one daughter - my mom - who was the youngest.

One thing I will always have to remember is that she swore she would come back from the grave and haunt me if I named any of my kids after her, as she hated both Ethel and Bernadette. :)

For her funeral, I went through her pictures and scanned all the ones that she was in, almost 600 in all (it took a long time). I figured I would put up some of my favorites that I found :)

Ethel "Sis" Bernadette Connors Asbury - Nov. 17, 1932 to Nov. 13, 2010

Grammy & Grampy in August of 1953.

Grammy and my mom, Kathleen, in El Paso.

Check out that hat! :) Quite the brood they all were.

Here she is with her friend, Janet.

This was how she could constantly be seen for a long time, and what helped in her demise.

Gotta love the picture though.

I love that bathing suit! This is with her friend Janet at Coney Island in Brooklyn.

Here she is holding her brother's son, Harold.

The day they married.

Even my uncles hadn't seen this one from when she was so young.

April 9, 1984 at my parent's wedding.

This was taken in 1985 around the time I was born.

One of my absolute favorites as this is one of my earliest memories.

This is Me, Grammy and Nanny, her mother, in 1987.

Christmas of 2003. This is all of her grandchildren minus my cousin Delaney.

January 3, 1988, the day my sister Kelly was born.

July 1985 the day I was blessed.

Grammy did love to bowl :)

Artillery Day 1964 in Okinawa, Japan.
With her brother, Charlie, June 1947.
Grammy in her famous fake fur coat she bought from a door to door salesman as a teenager.
lol Check the hair.

With two of her brothers in Brooklyn.

This was probably their first Christmas together as husband and wife.

Grampy carried around the only other copy of this picture in his wallet until he died.

1962 :) Love that outfit, I must say.

With her first son, Ken.

1952 in the Old Oak Bar, where they met.

I love everything about this one.

August 1951, the the whole drunken, Irish family. Grammy is on the left at the bottom.

Probably 1980, my mom and all her brothers with Grammy.

lol My mom in a hideous ponch.

Check out that hair man! She certainly liked to style it.

This one we all love because my uncle Kevin looks like Pee Wee Herman.

This is at Coney Island in the late 1930s with her brother Charlie.

And last but not least, the all time favorites:

On their wedding day. Grammy's mom and dad are on the left, and her friend Janet is on the right.

You have to admit, it's a beautiful picture.

Well, Grammy and Grampy are together again and I will be happy to see them one day and tell them about my life. I was privileged to be their first grandchild, and I will love them both forever. Miss you Grammy! Til we meet again!