Tuesday, October 13, 2020
My deepest sympathies to you, Gail, Joe, Bonnie and Bev on the loss of your mom.
Memories of Aunt Ginny--oh my, a surprising deluge! Since I was the youngest, by 5 years, of the four cousins associated with my father, Corliss Holcomb, and George Holcomb, his only brother and his best friend, I spent many, many, many hours with Uncle George and Aunt Ginny. My dad was known as "Hoke" to Uncle George and Aunt Ginny--an "in the family" nickname.
Many of the hours I spent with Aunt Ginny and Uncle George were inside their home during the very frequent Saturday night visits (every other weekend?) with my parents. The rest of the cousins were old enough to be out with their friends. I was not. Nor was I allowed, by my parents, to "do my own thing" during these visits--nor, frankly, did it occur to me to do so until I was in high school. Upon reflection, I realize the result of this was quite remarkable. From sitting and listening to the parents talk, I learned so much about honest and respectful adult conversation, sometimes where differing viewpoints emerged. I learned about having fun playing games together and not going away angry. I learned about politeness, storytelling, joke telling and laughter. I learned about sharing concerns. I learned about reminiscing about a shared childhood. When my parents had a home built and didn't have money to also fully furnish it right away, Aunt Ginny and Uncle George lent them some furniture that we used in our family room and living room. By this example, I learned about trust and generosity and lending what you have to offer in order to help. In short, being witness to these adult relationships, I learned a lot about how to be family.
And, during those frequent visits, I learned so much about hospitality. Aunt Ginny and Uncle George always welcomed us into a clean and orderly home that was beautifully decorated by Aunt Ginny. The walls of the living room, where we sat for countless hours and talked/listened, were gray (with a darker gray accent wall, I believe), the couch was a wrap around that was black and accents were orange. This was bold décor for the times. Guess what color I have all through my house now--gray. And I really think Aunt Ginny's living room planted the seed of my love affair with that color in decorating. After Gail began to do ceramics (in high school?), the living room was also accented with them. Among the pieces that influenced me was a small ceramic Christmas tree with little light bulbs-for years I've told my family that I want one of those if/when I am ever in a nursing home. Aunt Ginny and Uncle George's kitchen was so much fun! They had a high table with bar stools, such a treat for a kid to sit at! And a rainbow-colored assortment of aluminum drinking "glasses", that I had never seen anywhere else. I bought some of those for my own kitchen when my children were little--no kidding. They also had a collection of Welch's grape jelly jar drinking glasses with cartoon characters on them (the Flintstones?); some of these were also in my drinking glasses cabinet when my kids were growing up.
Aunt Ginny had a timeless sense of simple and elegant style. She would always be immaculately dressed and coiffed. I learned about having a "winter white" skirt from her.
One of my most stand-out memories of our two families is during a severe snowstorm sometime in the mid to late 1960s. Uncle George called my dad to see if we had power. Since we did, they all came over. About 20 min after that, our power went out. Because we had oil heat and everyone was already together they stayed. It was a long storm and we were all together for at least a few days. We 3 girl cousins slept head-to-feet in my twin bed. My mother (and others?) cooked over our fireplace. We stored food from the freezer in the snow. It was a great and fun adventure! For me it was like having a couple of sisters for a little while.
Since I have lived in California for 40 years I hadn't seen much of Aunt Ginny for quite some time. But a few years ago we did have a lovely family ride to Vermont including lunch out, planned by my brother Drew and Linda. I still very much enjoyed Aunt Ginny's company--she was smart, stylish and as good a storyteller as ever.
She will be missed. She had a pretty good journey here on earth, I think. And her influence continues to be felt down through generations in many ways that we might not even realize. I hold her memory well and dearly.
