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My beloved MIL has died

Ginevra

By Ginevra,
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Ginevra

Ginevra

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Truly one of the women I admired most in my life. Meeting her changed what I believed was possible in life. She came from *nothing* and really turned that around. Her frugality and hard work, combined with those same traits in my FIL, really leveled up her life and changed the future for her family. 
 

When she was young, living on a farm in the Midwest with her seven siblings, her father found out about a program in Washington D.C. for young women in which the government would house and train young women in business skills, employing them in government agencies. So she and two of her sisters, later followed by the two remaining sisters, got on a train and came to a totally unknown city, with no idea if they would ever see home again or what would happen. They lived in dorms, wore homemade clothes, and worked for the government and learned how to type and take shorthand. She told me once that they were “so backward” they did not understand what their paychecks were or what to do with them so they just kept saving them in a desk. Finally, someone from work asked her why they hadn’t cashed any paychecks and then she learned what to do. 🙂

 She and her sisters attended dances (and here I always think of Pride & Prejudice…) and that is where she met FIL, who was a Merchant Marine. The sisters also met their husbands this way. ALL of those girls leveled up their prospects in a huge way over what would have been open to them “back home”. 
 

This story exemplifies the courage and intelligence of my MIL. (Also, can you imagine putting all your daughters on a train and sending them a thousand miles away in the 1940s??) As I understand it, she was more or less the “leader” among her sisters. She was also the one who had the idea that they should go to dances and maybe meet some of those cute soldiers. 🙂 

 

She died on Monday of sudden cardiac arrest at my SIL’s house. I am glad she did not suffer a long illness, wasn’t in the hospital or a nursing home, and had such incredible care for the past few years. She lived a long and beautiful life and I’m immensely glad to have known her. Truly she was one of the most exemplary people I have ever met. We will miss her terribly. 

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26 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

I am so sorry @Quill. Thank you for sharing that story.  I had never heard of that program before.

I think it was a post-war specific program. Or possibly *during* the war. 

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Lori D.

Lori D.

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(((((Quill))))) So sad you have lost this wonderful woman, but thank you for honoring her (and sharing with us) with such a lovely tribute to her life. May you be blessed with peace in the midst of your sorrow and loss, and may her memory always stay bright in your heart and mind.

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