Violet Rosella Horsley Sayre

Violet Rosella Horsley Sayre

1904 - 1971

My Memories of Grandma

By Joyce Gudmundsen Richardson

I remember how kind my Grandmother Sayre was. She always had a hug for me.

She sold Avon products, and almost every time she came to visit, she would bring us gifts of bubble bath, perfume, or “soap on a rope.” There was a certain room in her house where she kept her products, and I remember the perfumey fragrance it gave to her house. She had lilac hand soap in the bathroom which also smelled so sweet.

She had lots of white cats. Some of the cats had one blue eye and one green eye, and some of the cats were deaf. There were often kittens and they were so cute. She also had a large tank of guppies. It was so fun to watch the transparent fish.

When Lee was born and my mother was in the hospital, my brothers and sisters and I went to stay with grandma for a week or two. We had fun coloring in coloring books and creating a circus with paper bag masks. It was fun to go in the front yard and look at the old fashioned metal light poles with their ornate decorations.

Grandmother sometimes had us over for Thanksgiving. What a lot of tables were set up so that all the aunts and uncles and cousins could sit down together. I remember the adults playing the game charades. Later, that became a tradition we carried on in my home.

My brother, Mark, told me that one time when my grandparents were driving up a mountain, a large rock fell in front of them. My grandmother didn't like camping after that.

My grandmother loved to sew, but when diabetes claimed her sight, she gave her sewing machine to me. I love that machine, and even though it is old, it is so well made that it still works perfectly. I think of her when I sew.

She lived to be 66 yrs old. I was only about seventeen when she died, but I have warm, loving memories of her.