On Saturday, the 27th of February, my grandmother passed away. I miss her. Her name was Sarah Evelyn Yawn, but if you knew her, you called her Granny.
As a matter of coincidence, or perhaps because the gods are more generous than we know, I had just spent several days visiting with her only a week before she became ill. We spent our time together doing my favorite thing, sitting on her couch looking through old photo albums while she told me stories about each photo.
On my last visit, I grabbed my camera to take a couple of quick shots, since I hadn’t taken a photo of her recently. She liked having her picture taken, though she would pretend she didn’t. One of the best portraits I’d ever taken is of her. After I took a couple of snapshots, she asked me to take a good picture of her to send to her sister. I did as she asked, and took another photo of her standing in her living room.
I love this picture of her. She wasn’t expecting to have her portrait made, so she’s wearing clothes that she would wear on any day. Because she had become unsteady on her feet in the past couple of years, she needed a cane for support. She told me, though, that she didn’t really like her cane, because it was too short. So at home she used that green stick she’s holding, which is just an old broom handle.
Behind her, on top of the tv, you can see the clock that Uncle Terrell gave her. He was her youngest brother, and their arguments are legendary. They both loved arguing with each other. He passed away a couple of years ago, andI know she missed him a lot.
Beneath the tv, you can see the bag of toys she kept available in case any grandkids dropped by. There are lots of grandkids, and she loved them all so much. There are four grandchildren, nine great-grandkids, and two great-great grandkids.
Here are some more pictures of her.
This photo is from Thanksgiving 1991. I took it with my old film camera and it’s still one of my favorite portraits I’ve ever taken.
This is from her photo album. I don’t know when this was taken. I’m really glad I was able to spend time with her in the last few weeks. There are many things in life I would change if I could, but this is one thing I got right.
