I have a great grandmother that is very unique and quite the gift from God. Her full name is Jean Marie Walters Peterson Simpson. Her birth date is September 22, 1922. That makes her 78 years old. Here is her story.

I was born in Swiekley, Pennsylvania. My mother's name was Bessie Estella Heidler Walters. She passed on when I was 3. My father's name was Thomas Elmer Walters. I have 5 siblings, 6 children, 18 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren.

As a child I loved to sing, whistle, jump rope, and run. I won many ribbons for the 100 yard dash in track at Hickory School in Pennsylvania. I held the record for the 100 yard dash for quite some time. Later, in my teenage years I began to like softball and volleyball (at Hiseville School). As an adult and mother I enjoyed fishing with my sons and grandsons. As an older lady I enjoy Rook with my neighbors and friends. I also recently remarried and we keep very busy. His name is Larry Simpson.

In Pennsylvania I walked one mile to school from the first to the eleventh grade. sometimes there was snow and things all over the sidewalk. In Hiseville I walked to school with Armand- my future husband at the time- from the Bledsoe house to the bank and then down Coral Hill Road to the school house.

Armand and I married when I was seventeen. I knew I wanted to marry his because of what else Chemistry- he was cute! His proposal was really romantic. He said, "You think we should get married?" I said, "Armand we don't have any money/ any place to live/ no car..." Armand's reply was "Heck who needs all that crap, I don't!" So we got married. After our wedding dinner of bacon and tomato sandwiches and buttermilk- ugh!- we drove home laughing and having fun.

 

The biggest portion of my life was spent with my six children in the little red house. They tore down that house on May 12, 1999. The building may be gone but the memories live on. My Susan was born in that house. She was delivered by Dr. Depp. Then Brad and David were born in the hospital and brought home to the little red house.
How many times we sat around the kitchen table and laughing at something one of the six kids had done. In order they are Pete, Tommy, Janice, Susan, Brad, and David. Brad loved to bounce the basketball off the roof of the house. Armand T. would sit on the edge of the couch with the mallard ducks- Gertrude and Heathcliff- sitting on his shoulder. Pete and Tommy would wish every time the ducks would poop on his shoulder, but they never did. I remember the time Susan cut a hole in the new couch and got the only whipping her Daddy ever gave her. I remember the time Pete shot me in the butt with a BB gun when I bent over to draw water out of the cistern. He ran, but didn't know Momma was a track star.

 

Most of all I remember the day that I watched Pete walk down the road when he joined the Navy. He wouldn't let his daddy drive him to meet the bus. I stood on the front porch and every time he turned to wave I cried a little harder. Tommy also joined the Navy while we lived there. He joined for 3 years and Pete joined for 4. The boys bought the first black and white TV when we lived in that house also.

All the children went to Hiseville School while we lived there. I remember one time when Tommy was mixing peanut butter and it went all over the entire kitchen. We cleaned peanut butter off of stuff for two weeks. I also remember the time that Tommy squirted Janice with a water hose after she had spent a lot of time getting prettied up for a date.

 

I feel that I have lived a very full life with few regrets. The only thing I wish that I had done was go to college. I should have waited to get married and went to college. However, I am very proud of my children, grand children, and great grandchidren. I am also very delighted to be a newly wed at 78. It keeps us youthful. We have a great time, all the time.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my great grandmothers story in a nut shell. I could have went on for days about her and all the interesting qualities and elements of her life. I just didn't own enough ink or paper for that. So, I hope she is as much of an inspiration for you as she was for me and the rest of the family.