“Selena, please put your phone away long enough to help me pack some of these things.”
“She was your grandmother; I hardly knew her.”
“You’re my daughter. That makes her your great-grandmother whether you spent time a lot of time with her or not. Before we moved to California, you visited Grammy June every day. Don’t you remember?”
“I was five, mom.”
“She used to bake peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles, and she always let you help no matter how much of a mess you made.”
Selena closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She could smell the cookies coming out of the oven.
“That was her?”
“Yes, it was. When I bake cookies I still use her recipes.”
“Tell me something else about her.”
Erica reached for an old photo album and placed it on the kitchen table.
She showed Selena photos of June and her siblings, Mark, and Laura. She turned the page to a photo of June in uniform.
“She was funny and opinionated, but kind. Sort of like someone in this kitchen. She didn’t like to talk about it, but Grammy June was an Army nurse in Vietnam.”
“I knew she was in the Army because of the whole military honors thing at the funeral, but I didn’t realize she was actually in Vietnam. I thought she was a midwife.”
“She became a midwife after she resigned her commission. When I decided to become a nurse, my dad wanted me to join the ROTC, so the Army would pay my way through school. Grammy June insisted we have a long talk about her experiences before I chose that path. She spent almost three years over there working twelve-hour shifts, six days a week. In addition to our wounded soldiers, she took care of Vietnamese civilians, and enemy soldiers. She also had to contend with tropical illnesses and mass casualties. See this?’
Erica pointed to a piece of paper with a medical insignia.
“That’s the motto of the medical corps, ‘Preserve the Fighting Force.’ It was June’s job to care for the wounded, so they could get well and rejoin their combat units. She was proud of the lives she helped save, but she also felt guilty for sending them back to fight. She took care of some soldiers three or four different times. She told me some of their faces were etched in her brain forever.”
“I thought if you got wounded, they sent you home and you were done.”
“If you are seriously wounded, you receive a medical discharge. If not, you are expected to rejoin your unit.”
“Why did she stay in Vietnam if it was so difficult?”
“She wanted to help.”
Selena pointed to another photo.
“We have the same hair and eyes. Who’s this with Grammy June? That’s not Papa Henry.”
“That’s Frank Willis you’re biological great grandfather. He was her first husband. It’s their wedding picture. Frank was a chopper pilot. His helicopter was shot down a few months after they got married. When June realized she was pregnant she had to leave the Army.”
“Papa Henry wasn’t Grandma’s real father?”
“Papa Henry is the only father your grandmother ever knew. That made him a pretty real father even if they didn’t share DNA. Frank was an orphan, so he had no family. There were no aunts, uncles, or grandparents. Henry and his family became part of June’s and my mom’s family.”
“How old was grandma when they got married? Did she know?”
“She was two-years old. They explained everything to her as soon as she was old enough to understand. June kept a picture of Frank on the mantle while mom was growing up. Mom has it in one of her family albums. Grammy June and mom never wanted Henry to feel like he wasn’t her father.”
“It seems sad that Frank was just forgotten like that.”
“Your grandma’s middle name is Frances. Your Uncle Gary’s middle name is Francis. He wasn’t forgotten.”
“Wow! What else don’t I know about my family? You didn’t tell me why Grammy June decided to become a midwife.”
Erica flipped through a few pages of the album.
“These are photos of some of the babies she delivered in Vietnam. Helping a new life come into the world was a great comfort to her even if they were coming into a world torn apart by war. June saw the promise of each child. She told me how grateful the families were. When she went back to the States it was a hard adjustment. There were anti-war protests and there weren’t many support groups for women coming back from Vietnam. She had to move in with her parents, but June wanted to make a home for her and her child. She was going to be a single mom; she needed to work. She didn’t want to be a triage nurse or a floor nurse, and she didn’t want to work in a doctor’s office. With all her experience delivering babies getting her certification wasn’t difficult.”
“How did she meet Papa Henry?”
“They were friends in high school. Henry was drafted soon after graduation. He went to Vietnam while June was in college. When he got back home, June was in Vietnam. Henry used the G.I. Bill to take classes at the Junior College. He became an electrician and eventually took over the family business. They kept running into each other around town, and finally he got up the courage to ask her out. He asked her to marry him before my mom was born, but June wasn’t ready.”
“Why didn’t she want to get married?”
“It’s not that she didn’t want to get married. June loved Henry, but she also loved Frank and needed time to grieve. She wanted them to get married for the right reasons not because he felt sorry for her.”
“Why would she think he only felt sorry for her?”
“Hand me that box and I’ll try to explain it to you. Help me pack up these cookbooks.”
Selena opened one of the cookbooks. The pages were littered with writing in the margins. The penmanship was neat and precise. Grammy June had written meticulous notes about every recipe.
“Hubbard is a small town. When she returned everyone knew about Frank and the baby. She once told me she heard ‘bless your heart’ so many times she wanted to scream. Everyone felt sorry for her. The ladies from the church tried to fix her up with every eligible bachelor in town to get her unborn child a father.”
“Bless their hearts.” Selena quipped.
“Grammy June was fiercely independent. She wanted to prove she could make it on her own and she did.”
“Why didn’t they have more children?’
“I never asked. They were very happy with their little family. I know she and Henry volunteered at the local soup kitchen and the food bank. Henry hired vets coming back from the war, and June volunteered at the Veterans Hospital. She organized the first support group in this area for nurses coming back from Vietnam. The group is still in existence and nurses from the Persian Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan also attend.”
“Grammy June was a real badass, wasn’t she?”
“I think so. You haven’t looked at your phone for over an hour.”
Selena rolled her eyes.
“What are we going to do with all this stuff?”
“We’ll donate most of it, and keep things like the photo albums and a few of her personal effects.”
“Do you think I could have a few things?”
“I think she’d like that.”