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A sad post to mark the passing of Marc’s maternal grandmother Marilyn Waggoner.
This is more of a memory stream than a proper eulogy.
Grandma Marilyn passed away on this day. She was 90 years old and will be reunited with Grandpa Harry after almost 3 years apart. Sad as that makes us now, we are confident that there’s life beyond this place. So there’s cause for celebration, too! Some of you may remember that she was known for her love of Toy Poodles and had several over the years. A to visit her house always started with a series of very sharp barks and a close inspection by the Poodle-in-Residence. Mimi was the first and Gigi the last. I imagine them wagging their little tails and frolicking with her now.
She was also known for her hospitality to friends and family. I remember relatives coming from all over the country to visit her at the cottage at Jimmerson Lake, me included. I spent quite a bit of time there, both in tow of my parents and alone with her and/or Grandpa Harry.
I remarked to my son Mitchell today that I know she liked to have us all visit her, even if it meant cleaning up after us when we’d left.
She was quite a lady who always did her best to live a righteous, upright life. She also had a sense of humor. One famous Grandma Marilyn quote was, “Fat cells scream the loudest to be fed!”, which I have found to be true.
At the intersection of humor and visitors, she echoed the common wisdom more than once in my hearing: “Company is like fish; after three days it starts to stink!”
Needless to say, I tried not to overstay my welcome as an adult!
Grandma liked to play cards and it’s known that the Waggoner game was Euchre. She was happy to play the Moore game of Canasta too and we played more than a few times out under the big oak tree near the lake.
We often had New Year’s Eve get-togethers and would pass the time til midnight watching the Dick Clark countdown show. We’d play Spoons as well, which Grandma liked. This game can get “exciting” and on one memorable occasion Grandma suffered a card-playing injury when another player who will remain nameless allegedly wrenched a spoon out of her hand!
Grandma was also known to drink a beer or have a glass of wine at times. When she’d had enough she would refuse more and laugh, saying, “My nose is glowing!”
Although she topped out at 5’1″ and three-quarters, she could be as fierce like her poodles. There was only one thing she hated more than dirt and that as grease! Grandpa Harry, on the contrary, loved working on cars, boats, and lawn mowers, which led to some famous scoldings. There was always a supply of industrial-strength hand cleaner on hand at the Waggoners!
One of these cars was a pretty boss, metallic mint green 1968 Mercury Cougar, which she drove for at least 10 years while I was growing up. Very hip for a grandmother! She drove well and once had to gun the Cougar and swerve into the ditch to not-quite-avoid a teenaged driver who was part of a street race near Auburn, thus making the accident a lot less injurious than it could have been. Mom and I were in the car with her on that adventure.
During this same time period she worked the jewelry counter at a Montgomery Ward department store, which at that time was a happening place, before the advent of Wal-Mart and Amazon, and she was known to use her employee discount with some regularity! She loved working there with the jewelry and had many stories. One infamous one was of a woman who distracted Grandma for a moment and stole something – a ring or necklace, I think – and vanished, in broad daylight.
Needless to say, her home was always well-appointed and immaculately maintained. The phrase “Grandma Marilyn Clean” was coined in her honor and means, in essence, a level of household cleanliness unattainable by any level of effort less than extraordinary, if at all!
My memories of Grandma are mostly from my pre-Texas era, that is, prior to age 17, when our lives took separate paths. She and Grandpa traveled various places over the years but only dropped in on Monica and me twice that I can recall, for short periods, once in Oregon and once in Texas. She preferred to be visited rather than to be company, perhaps for fear of breaking the “fish rule” mentioned above.
So on this day, I am reminded that she was often sad in the last three years of her life owing to the passing of Grandpa Harry and their son, my Uncle Dave. She will be happier now in heaven and we should rejoice in that, knowing that she would want us to remember her fondly, as of course we will.
