My Only Grandma

This is the only Grandmother I ever knew. Frieda Schrack Ritter. She became our grandma in 1963 when her son married our mother. She was a jewel and such a blessing in my life. She was a member of the Seventh-Day-Adventist Church and she lived her religion. She prayed, read her scriptures, kept her Sabbath Day holy, and had great faith. Her Sabbath day was on Saturday and she wouldn't look at the newspaper or read her mail until the sun set.
I remember coming home from school one day and she told me she found something that belonged to me. She had found my contact lens on the kitchen floor. I should add the kitchen floor that was brown linoleum. I do remember being at school and thinking that things looked a little off, but I had NO idea I only had one contact. I always thought that was such a great blessing, since there was no way I could afford to buy another contact. These were the days that contacts cost hundreds of dollars!

It didn't hurt that she always had See's chocolate or

German chocolates to share. She was a wonderful cook. (Yummy meat loaf, gravy, German potato salad and cheesecake.) She did not have an easy life. She lived in Germany and had a German boyfriend. She was forced to come to the United States and marry an older man. She had one son and one daughter. Her husband died in 1933 and she was a widow for more than 50 years. In 1956 her only daughter died of cancer. She was only 39 and left four little children. Later in life she traveled back to Germany and was able to meet the former boyfriend. We asked her how it was and she answered "Oh he was so old". Probably the same age she was. Because of her I have collected several German pyramids and other German things. I love my German choir people and the shaved curly trees. All those things remind me of Grandma and the love she had for me and my sister Vicki. I do know we will see her again someday.