80 Years Of Awesome!

On November 20th, my grandmother will be celebrating her 80th birthday. Our family is so fortunate to be celebrating Granny's milestone birthday with her! This birthday lets us celebrate her life and her accomplishments. Granny has lived in many places and has done a lot of things throughout her life. Come with me on a journey as I share with you a patchwork of memories that make up her life.

Granny, along with her three sisters and one brother grew up in Fredrick, Maryland with their parents LeRoy and Ruth Rice. My dad and his siblings knew them better as Nanny and Pap. One of my favorite stories from her younger years is when she was a jitterbug champion on the American Bandstand show. I know that it makes Granny smile when she sees that my sister and several of my cousins have inherited her dancing spirit. I know that it was during this time, it was instilled in her that the love of family is one of the most important thing in life. This is one of the things that Granny has demonstrated throughout her life.

Granny came to Huntsville, Alabama as a young mother with two small children. One of them was my dad. After my grandmother moved here, she became a single mom. At this point, Granny was just trying to pay the bills and keep her children fed and a roof over their heads. Her first job was being a waitress at Gibsons BBQ, where she learned how to make her famous lemon pie. She then went on to work in the cafeteria feeding the astronauts at NASA. On occasion, she even was the food taster for Werner Von Braun because he was worried that the Germans would try to poison him. Granny was doing her part in helping the USA beat the Russians to the moon. Although, I'm not sure that spilling a pot of coffee on Roger Chaffe helped the cause! Granny has always said that she was so grateful that he was so kind to her when it happened.

It was also during this time at NASA, when she met Charles Gray. Since he was the head chef for the cafeteria and she was a waitress he was her boss. However, this didn't stop them from falling in love. On October 31st, 1965 they got married. From that moment on, my dad considered Charlie Gray his dad. After NASA, Pop went on to manage all of the Kentucky Fried Chickens in Huntsville. During this time, my grandmother ran the house and did secretarial work for my grandfather. Granny and Pop Pop were also very active in their church. God, faith, and family were always the most important things to them.

Granny and Pop Pop went on to have three more children. Unfortunately, their daughter Lisa, only lived a few hours after being born. But, they still had four children to raise and a life to build together. So, in 1973 they moved to Murray, KY where they bought their first restaurant called The Colonial House Smorgasbord. Granny and Pop Pop went onto run four additional businesses, which included the first water slide in Kentucky. In 1980, Pop Pop went on to become a GM for Cracker Barrel. During this time, they move to several cities where Pop helped open/run Cracker Barrels. The last store was in Tallahassee, FL. This was when Granny started managing doctor's offices, including their insurance claims. BTW, I believe that I have inherited my grandmother's accounting brain.

In 1998, my dad's youngest brother passed away. There were so many memories in Florida. So, Granny and Pop moved to Gallatin, TN where he went to work for Cracker Barrel headquarters. It was during this time that my sister and I were born. I was sent to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and Granny and Pop Pop opened their new apartment for my mom and my sister. Mom and Hannah stayed with them for over three months. Hannah “helped” them shop for a house because car rides stopped her from crying. Let's just say, she was a great encouragement to help them find a house. For the next twelve years, Granny and Pop Pop traveled around the country opening stores and trouble shooting issues for Cracker Barrel. As you can image, a big part of our holidays is the food and Granny's amazing carrot cake and lemon pie are staples at our holidays. Of course Pop Pop always had to supervise to make sure the food was of the utmost quality.

In 2012, I ended up having rods put in my back that ended up not going as planned. I ended up staying in Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for fifty six days. I was having to have surgery every three days. During this time, Granny would spend hours or even days with me. We were always having deep conversations with each other which allowed me to learn a lot more about her. One day, we even tried sliders for the first time together. We both approved of them. Granny will never know how much this time meant to me because I was so scared.

I don't think I told you before, but Granny loves to sew. After Granny retired, she joined the quilting group at her church in Gallatin, TN. These ladies would make quilts for parents that gave birth to still born babies and clothes for children overseas. The church would bring these clothes with them when they would go on mission trips every year. One year, Granny even made a total of 200 dresses! Granny has always had a heart for missions and that is yet another thing I admire about her.

Granny and Pop Pop were married for 52 years. Their marriage was an example to their family of how to love and support each other through the good times and the bad. We lost Pop Pop back in 2018 so Granny moved yet again to Huntsville to be closer to family. These past few years has allowed several of the grandchildren the opportunity to spend more quality with Granny and let us get to know her on a deeper level. Granny has been a source of encouragement to me during my stressful times in school. She tells me that she knows that I will be okay even if I don't. We hope that we can bless her like she's always blessed us.

Happy Birthday Granny! We love you !