It has been a week now since Granny passed away.   The whole thing is not as raw, but she is no less missed. We have laughed at so many of the memories.  Granny had such a sense of humor.   We have cried at a few of them too.   But overall, our family is at peace with the fact that she is at peace.   

We will have a very small family gathering in East Texas the Saturday before Easter where we will get to see my Great Aunt Bonnie Kate who is, herself, 100 years old this year.   

I remain so thankful so Kay and Rual, Granny’s niece and nephew in Minnesota.  Both (and their families) loved Granny as we did and spent so much time looking after her.     I am also convinced that geriatric care is a true calling that only special people can answer.   The lovely staff at Galtier including my cousin, Tick, as well as Pearl, Beth, Roxie Cindy, Jennifer, Joan -   – and the hospice team, Cori, Barbara  , and all of the other angels who’s names I may not know – - all of you loved and cared for Granny if she were your  own and we will never be able to show enough appreciation for your selflessness.  

I have received about 50 emails or blog entries, tons of cards and a living room full of flowers and plants from friends and coworkers from both New Jersey and Texas Everyone has been so kind and thoughtful.   

I am looking forward to the trip to Texas and to putting this all behind us, but Granny will always be here in spirit and in all of the wonderful memories we have.

All of the arrangements are in place and they are simple. In lieu of a formal service in Minnesota,  over Easter we will go to Texas where my grandfather is buried next month to formally dedicate her marker alongside his, and to spend some time with our 100-year-old Aunt Bonnie Kate.    At my grandmother’s  request there will be no formal service.

I have had a couple of inquiries about places to send  memorials.   If you are so inclined, the Galtier Health Center and the Hospice of the Lakes really helped us out and a donation to either would help them help others in the future:

Hospice of the Lakes
8170 33rd Ave S
Minneapolis, MN  55425

Galtier Health Center
445 Galtier Street
St. Paul, MN 55103

Granny’s newspaper notice will publish in the St Paul Pioneer Press on Sunday, and you can see her online memorial here.

A notice will also appear the week of April 6 in the Kilgore News Herald in Kilgore, Texas.

PHOTOS FROM MEMORIAL IN KILGORE, TX  4/11/2009

Chris (me), Aunt Bonnie (my great aunt), Jay (my brother), and Lee (my mom)My Great Aunt Bonnie Kate. She turned 100 last September.

My Great Aunt Bonnie Kate, who turned a young 100 in September of last year

My grandfather and Granny's gravesite. There are 8 roses, one each for Granny and her brother and sisters.

Gail Jackson - Granny

GAIL EVELYN (RUSSELL) JACKSON   
Updated 4/11/2009

Gail Evelyn Jackson of Roseville MN,  born June 4, 1921, passed away on March 19, 2009.   Preceded in death by husband, John D,  mother (Katherine), father (Gale), and 6 siblings.     Survived by daughter Norma Lee Clark  of Long Valley, NJ;  Grandsons, Chris of Long Valley, NJ, and Jay of Lancaster, Texas ; sister, Vivian Wilson of Phoenix, AZ ;  and numerous nieces and nephews who love her deeply.    The family wishes to thank the staff of Galtier Health Center and Hospice of the Lakes for their compassion and friendship.   A private dedication will be Easter weekend in Kilgore, Texas.   

CLICK HERE for Information on Arrangements and Memoriums, and Photos from April 11 Memorial in Kilgore, TX  (Updated 4/11/2009)

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This page is my opportunity to tell you a little bit about a very special lady.    My Grandmother, I call her “Granny”,  passed away this morning at the age of 87.   

As I think back on her life, her story is one of independence and determination.    She was a gentle person, kind but with an occasional sharp tongue that only added to her charm.   She was proud, and she was strong. 

Gail Evelyn Russell, my Granny, was born in a house boat on the Mississippi River on June 4, 1921.   The youngest of eight children, her “ma”, Catherine,  and “pa” Gale, married in the Midwest town of Ortonville, MN at the turn of the century.   The migrated to St. Paul, MN where her dad worked as a painter and paper hanger to earn a living for the family that soon appeared.      For many years, her dad had a dream of building a houseboat and traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.   In his spare time he would slip over the hill and down to the water to build his dream.    By 1914 he was making good progress on his dream boat even though he also now had four children, the youngest was 6 months old,  and a wife to support.    In June of 1914 Ma and Pa  Russell  loaded up gear and the kids and started their journey down the river.    

Of course there would be stops along to way to find work and earn groceries.    By December, they had made it 60 miles downstream to Red Wing, MN where they had mechanical problems and decided to stop for the winter and recoup.   The seasons passed and soon, another baby was on the way.   And another.  And another.    By the time my Granny arrived, the old houseboat was bursting at the seams with children.   They pulled the boat ashore a small island in the middle of the Mississippi River, wrapped the bottom part of it with tar-paper and added on to it.    They built a chicken coup and the usual “out” buildings.     Some of the children were school age, so they went to school in Red Wing.   In the summer the only transportation was by canoe or row boat.  In the winter, they would simply walk across the ice to town. 

 
Ma and Pa Russell with some of kids – 1920’s

Times were tough.  There was no electricity, no running water.     They chopped their own wood, raised their own chickens, and depended on towns-folk for donated clothing.     When Granny was 5, Pa died leading her mother and the children to fend for themselves.   They picked wild mushrooms, dug water chestnits, and trapped muskrat to sell for their pelts.    They caught big frogs to sell to cafes that served frog leg son their menu.     They picked strawberries to sell for 2 cents a box.    Ma Russell even built her own still and made moonshine to bootleg.  She was a rough woman who did whatever it took to support her children.   At that time, “squatters rights” was Common Law, so eventually Ma Russell got the deed to the land.  By this time the older girls were leaving to get married, only to return with their spouses when things got hard for them.  They were always there for each other and there was always some coming and some going from the houseboat. 

Granny left home at 15 to find work in St Paul.   An older couple in the ritzy Highland Park neighborhood took her in so that she could finish high school .   It was her first experience with running water, electricity,  and her own bed.   She even had a satin bedspread!   She was paid $1.50 a week to help the couple after school with jobs around the house.    She felt like a princess.  She was able to dress better, and take a street car to school.   By her senior year in high school, she found a job at a hotel and café that paid $25 a month and provided room and board. 

After high school and with only four hours notice to make a decision, she packed her bags and joined two girl friends on a journey to Hollywood to “get discovered.”   They arrived in Los Angeles in April of 1941 determined to be in the movies.   They shared a small apartment, each getting jobs as waitresses to earn a living.    Granny was a beautiful young woman – quite a looker, when later that same April she met John Jackson, a tall Texan musician with a southern drawl.   She dated several other nice guys and socialized a lot – shows, bowling, beach parties, but soon she was steady with John the Texan.   They fell in love and married later the same year on November 22, 1941.     John was a tile setter but when the war broke out in December of 1941, he went to work in the ship yards at Long Beach.      They lived in a modest one bedroom apartment in downtown LA .     

On July 14, 1943, Granny gave birth to a beautiful little girl – my wonderful mom.    Shortly after Mom was born, her dad was taken into the service.   Granny loaded the baby up and went by train to Marshall Texas to live with John’s folks for two years until he returned from the service.     They returned back to California, bought a house in Inglewood, where they lived until 1952 when they returned to Texas.  

In the years that followed, determined to earn a living and grow her own independence, Granny got her drivers license and her beauty operator’s license and went to work twisting curls while my granddad made his way back and forth to Alaska every year for seasonal work.  Mom married, had my brother, Jay and then me, and by 1968, we moved to the Dallas area.    On what would be his final trip to Alaska in the fall of 1968, my grandfather got very ill, returned to Texas , and died on Christmas Day.  

  Granny stayed in Texas another two years, but her heart was in Minnesota.  She wanted to be closer to her siblings, she hated the Texas heat, and I think she wanted a fresh start.   By 1971, she was settled in Saint Paul, eventually sharing a small house with her sister, Vivian, for about 18 years.  She worked in a film processing studio close to the house for 19 years before retiring in 1990.   She spent the last 17 years of her life as a retiree doing exactly what she pleased:  arts and crafts, quilting, and traveling.  She collected clowns, Santa Clauses, and elephants, and she made the best macaroon sugar cookies in the world!   There were sad times, when she had to say goodbye to her brother and several of her sisters,  but there were many more happy times.   She never missed an opportunity to go to a casino, and she didn’t appreciate a dirty joke unless, of course, she was the one telling it.

As I look back on her life, I will remember Granny as my champion.   She was my biggest fan, always encouraging and very proud.    She was as independent as she was kind, and it was her independence that determination that kept her steady her whole life – -  through childhood, marriage, death of my granddad at such an early age, and in the more recent years, through her own health issues which never really slowed her down until just this year.   She never forgot her humble beginnings, and she took on other’s problems and needs as her own.    When we cleaned out her home we discovered that she was actively donating money to over 10 different organizations that were important to her.    

Granny did not want a lot of commotion upon her passing.   She was humble and practical in everything that she did.    Even against her wishes, we will still have a small gathering later this Spring in Texas where my grandfather has been buried for more than 40 years.  I realize, however, that many of you shared her life with her too and would like to remember her.  

Granny is survived by her older sister, Vivian “Short” Wilson of Phoenix, AZ,  my mom, Norma Lee Clark, my brother, Jay, myself and many nieces and nephews who loved her so much and were there for her at times when distance prevented me from being there as often as I would have liked.  She is survived by a huge circle of friends – people she cared about and people who cared about her.      Many are local to Minnesota with many more spread about the country.  She is also survived by the lovely caretakers at Galtier Health Center and the Hospice of the Lakes in St. Paul, each of whom are now part of our family – - true angels who cared for Granny  and loved her as if she were their own.  

As a family, though we are heartbroken, we are fine and we are at peace.    Since, at her request,  we won’t be having a formal service, it is my hope that in sharing a little bit about my Granny, and my love for her here, this webpage will also provide you an opportunity to share a bit about your relationship with her as well.   She would like that.

I have had a lot of messages checking on Granny so I thought I would put up an update today.      Granny had a pretty rough weekend.   She is increasingly confused, sometimes to the point of agitation.     This morning the nursing home called me to tell me that she was sitting on the floor by the trash can this morning.   She was not  injured but was confused and thought she was in the  bathroom.    All of this dementia is characteristic of  patients with congestive heart and renal failure.    

Because she is no longer responding to the therapy, Medicare will no longer pay for her skilled nursing home.    That means , as of today, she became a  private pay patient.   I am trying not to think about  the $230.00 a day bill, and just focus on her needs.     To that end, beginning this week I am having a Hospice nurse, doctor,  and social worker visit her in the nursing  home each week.    Hospice can utilize comfort control measures that the nursing home may not do on their own.

Granny’s niece, Kay, is driving to St. Paul to see Granny tomorrow.   Kay is a retired nurse and I am looking  forward to seeing what she has to say after she  spends some time with Granny.         So, not a lot of  good news here, but I am blessed with so many good  friends who love me and prop me up every day .     My thanks to all of you.

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 I am headed out to Minneapolis, MN tomorrow morning to check on Granny.   I will post updates here.

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