Grandma’s Cokes

Grandma Melhorn, my sister and I holding hands alongside many other grandchildren

My Grandma Melhorn came to live with my family in North Carolina when I was about 10 years old in 1960.

My sister and I had just returned from California, where we lived for three years with my father. My mother, having just remarried, had moved into a new brick home. This home had three bedrooms; however, since we didn’t use the living room, it was kept for guests.

We stayed in the same room with our grandmother and never thought to ask why we didn’t have our own room. My mother worked at a local ice cream sandwich shop, so grandmother watched us during this time. Grandmother, like most older people at this time, received a Social Security check. I had no idea the amount and didn’t know why she received it.

Every month she watched the mail around the time it was due. With this check she bought her medicines. Drug stores delivered then and she would say, “You kids be good and I will order some Cokes for you!” Cokes were then in small glass bottles, in cartons of six. We were thrilled, although the truth of us being good is still out!

Grandma Melhorn was with us for the rest of her life, except a short time in a retirement hospital in Charlotte.

Mary Pittman, Gastonia, A member of Rutherford EMC