Hanchett Grandparents

Vessa's Memories:

When we lived in Pima on what was known as the Miller place, my Grandfather and Grandmother Hanchett came to live with us. Grandmother had been afflicted with a stroke and was unable to do anything except feed herself. I remember sitting at the table with her eating, long after everyone else had finished. Mother used to say it took Grandmother and me forever to eat our means, but looking back, it was joy to me to sit and eat with her. Another trait Mother said I took from Grandmother was that I didn’t ever want to thrown anything away.

Grandmother had five more strokes over the next five years and was completely bedfast the last year of her life. Grandfather Hanchett was so good about helping Mother with us children while she took care of Grandmother. He would help with the washing, housework, and anything else he could do. He would take Brose and me with him in the buggy out to Cluff’s Ranch where a cousin of his lived. We would take breakfast along and cook it on a campfire on the way.

Mother wasn’t too well at this time either, giving birth to my sister Mandona just about two or three weeks before Grandmother’s death. I have sometimes wondered if the wonderful patience and love Mother showed to Grandmother wasn’t transferred to my sister Dona’s disposition while Mother carried her because Dona has certainly inherited those qualities.