on finding my grandma

saturday, october 3, 2009 – cont.

julia and i drove around grants pass this afternoon and she said she would like to see the movie “whip it”. so we found the theater and she went to see the movie.  i went back to the library and with the librarians, joyce & elizabeth, assistance, we were able to find my grandma’s obituary.  the microfiche machine was not able to print it, but i was able to find out her address, her birth and death date, and where she is buried.  and the fact that she was a member of the fruitdale grange.  i asked elizabeth what the grange is, and she said years and years ago it was a group of farmers that got together.  now, she said with a laugh, if you have a potted plant on your porch, you can be a member of the grange.

so, my grandma,

anola elizabeth fisher white  finnestad

b: 4/19/1894

d: 4/15/1972,  just 4 days shy of her 78th birthday.

she had been living with her husband, martin o. finnestad (officially my step-grandpa, as my mom’d dad (max mckeehan white) died when she was 16, i think – but the only grandpa-in-oregon i knew as my other grandparents are from kansas), at 3211 dewoody lane, in grants pass, oregon, where they had lived since 1959.  she is buried at hawthorn memorial gardens.

elizabeth, one of the librarians, started to cry as tears ran down my face as i read the obituary.  i was worried that i wouldnt be able to find where my grandma is resting, and now i have, with the help of those two lovely ladies, who kept the library open an extra 15 minutes so we could find the right newspaper page.

so, tomorrow, i will find hawthorn memorial gardens, and tonight we will stay at circle w rv park, here in grants pass, and take showers (!!)