Happy Birthday Gma Lu!!

I miss my grandmother.  She was a wonderful lady.  Today would have been her 99th birthday!  She died in 1997 right before my oldest daughter was born.  The last time I saw my Gma Lu, I told her that I really wanted my children to know her, but knowing she was going to be dying soon (I was told by the hospice nurse that she had been waiting for me to visit her before she died), she and I agreed that it was now my responsibility to make sure that my children knew her.  Hence, one of the reason for this blog.  

So, in honor of my Gma Lu's birthday, I am sharing some photos, and a story she told about one of her birthdays.

Lu Penrose - Senior photo

Lu right around the time of her marriage to Richard Bond - 1941

Lu Penrose Bond - October 1983

Lu and her granddaughters in 1993 - back: Lora Marshall, DeeDee Castle, Jennifer Castle

front: Laurel Castle, Lu Penrose Bond, Kristen Castle

My photos of Gma Lu from when she was young (that are not in profile) are copies of copies and are horrible.  If anyone has actual photos I would be so grateful to have a copy of them.

Gma talked about one of her birthdays:

One of my birthdays stands out in my mind, and I think it must have been when I was about twelve, because I invited bit girls and boys to my party for the first time, and because my birthday in close to Halloween, I had a Halloween costume party.  And everybody was coming to dinner and party and in costumes and one person came in particularly early, which we weren't too thrilled about, but we were polite, but I didn't know who the person was, but I was ashamed to admit that I didn't know who it was, and I said, "Come in."

"Am I early?"

"Well, yes, a little, but that's alright."

The rest of them were coming.  Well, so we had out dinner and played games and I kept thinking, "Who is that girl?  I don't know who she is, but I must have invited her."  And, I think, "Oh, that crazy Joe, he probably forgot the party was tonight.  His birthday is tomorrow and maybe he didn't even care about coming to the party tonight.  Well, he's the loser."

Anyway, we played games and did all those things, like bobbing for apples in a big wash tub thing and we had pumpkins with candles in them for lights.  We played spin the bottle and all those exciting games.  Had birthday cake and ice cream and when all the kids were ready to leave to go home, this girl came over tome and she says, "You don't recognize me, do you?"  Put me right not he spot, and I said, "No, I don't.  At first I thought you were so-and-so and then I thought, no I didn't invite her."  It was this Joe that I thought had forgotten to come to the party and he was in costume made up like a girl, everything about his costume and his makeup was so perfect nobody recognized him.  Nobody knew that the girl was a boy.  And that was Joe Paytrick that lived two houses away from me all my life, till I grew up and got married,  He was invited tot eh party and I thought he didn't come.  Nobody knew who that strange girl was who came to the party in a dress and long hair.  Absolutely perfect, and I think one of his sisters must have helped him.  Maybe he was wearing one of their dresses, who knows.  But that's the only party I remember from when I was young."

  (transcribed by Lora Nehring from a cassette tape recorded by Marji Castle 2 May 1982)

Here are pages from our family scrapbook that I made when Gma died.

Direct line ancestry: Lu Penrose Bond --> Kathryn Bond Berkowitz --> Lora Marshall Nehring