| Most often when remembering family it
brings to mind humorous, happy times. We recall the little quirks
and characteristics of certain ones who left an impression on us. We
remember them and we laugh again. Not at them, but with them. Grandma Harrison My dad's mother, Freda Amsler Harrison, was born in 1871 and came to the United States from Switzerland at age eight. She married my grandfather, Alexander Harrison, in 1896. He was already age fifty and had been married before and had four children from his first wife who had passed away. Grandma was age twenty-five. They had nine children together, including my dad, Cyrus, who was about in the middle of the second family. She was only fifty years old when my grandfather died. What intrigues me is that she lived to be ninety-eight years old and yet in all that time she never remarried. She seemed ancient already when I was just a little girl. Everyone in the family had great respect for her, even though she could be very out spoken at times. Especially if she didn't like one of the son's wives. And if any of her grandchildren were not baptized by age two, her own children could expect a visit from 'Ma' and a good raking over the coals. When Grandma spoke her six foot sons hopped to as if the top sargeant at boot camp had just spoken. She had this fascinating little quirk. Each year there would be a Harrison family reunion. Grandma, of course, was in charge. And each year she would leave one family out of the invitation. When asked why she did that, her reply was "if everyone came there would be no one to talk about". Grandma was already up in years by the time every American household had a TV set. When her boys pooled their money and bought her a television she was fascinated by it. But all the explaining in the world never really succeeded in helping her grasp how it worked. She simply believed that if she could see and hear the folks on the television than they could see and hear her too. Her favoritie show was Lawrence Welk. She called him Lawrency and talked to him all through the show, confident that he was listening. When Lawrence Welk said goodnight on his program, Grandma always said, "Goodnight Lawrency, I'll talk to you next week". Grandma had one sister who had moved to another part of the country shortly after they arrived from Switzerland. Aunt Rose would come to visit every couple years and to see them together you would never guess that they were related. Grandma was petite, small boned, and not quite five feet tall. Aunt Rose was quite a large woman, big boned, and six feet tall. They were quite a formidable pair.  Grandma Harrison and Aunt Rose Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 Return to 'A Good Day' Site Map |