I am updating my file for addresses which I use each year when I address Christmas cards. This year I had several cards returned stamped "No Forwarding Address" , but one of them came from an address that made me look online for further information. There I found confirmation of my sad suspicion for the reason Charlotte and Paul were no longer living in their lovely home. Charlotte died last March. My husband's elderly cousin, Paul, and his wife, Charlotte, lived many years in Water Valley, MS, where we visited them in 1998. They were most gracious hosts and we loved hearing Paul's family stories. At that time he was in his mid eighties, and still going in to his office every day. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of chicken salad and tomato aspic and talked about the fact that in a few weeks, another couple with their names would be married: our son whose middle name is Paul and his fiance, Charlotte. They were delighted and upon discovering that Charlotte's little daughter from a previous marriage was also joining our family, Charlotte asked what grandmother name I would be called. When I replied that at the present I was simply called by my given name, Mary Ann, she exclaimed, "Oh, no, that will never do. She needs a special name for you." Then she told me her friend's name is Mary, and that her grandchildren call her Granmary. That is how I came to have a name I now love. Four beautiful granddaughters call me Granmary, and soon there will be a 5th little girl to call me that. I have that charming Charlotte to thank for this pleasure!
She was a true Steel Magnolia - a wife, mother, and quintessential southern lady who graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in education, taught and coached girls' basketball. After she married Paul, she managed his store during his military tour of duty. Charlotte, I salute you. And I don't need your forwarding address. I know where you are.
