Happy Birthday, Abe

Today, Feb. 12th is Lincoln's birthday. It was also my grandmother's birthday. She was born Margaret Elizabeth Gallagher in 1900 or 1901, depending on how old she wanted to be when asked . She was one of eight children. One brother died in the Influenza epidemic of WW1 and another at birth. Mimi( my name for her) always said her mother never got over the baby's death. She outlived all of her brothers and sisters, which amazed her, as she said she was always sickly as a child. She grew up in the Roaring Twenties and was a flapper and went to speak easies. She married in 1921 and gave birth to one daughter, Mary Beth, my mother, in 1923.

Mimi was a character- nosy- getting the dirt on everyone, loved reading fan magazines. She also was very generous- would give you the shirt off her back. She loved connecting people with common needs. More on this later...

A typical story: We went to Memphis, Tennessee with my great aunt, Kay, taking the Greyhound bus. Children under four were free but I was six and quite tall. I was absolutely mortified as we got on the bus and the driver said to my grandmother " How old is she?" She nudged me ahead and didn't bat an eye declaring that I was four. Next time ..more of the Memphis trip.