The blog posts below are taken from my grandmother's diaries. Althea Green Smith Crook was lovingly referred to as Nanny to her immediate family ~ thus her diaries are called Nanny's Diaries.

Nanny wrote in her diaries when she remembered to - mostly in the evening. There will be some years in which she didn't keep diaries and there will also be some days/weeks in her yearly diaries in which she skipped or forgot to write in them. For the most part, these are her words - written as she wrote them. There will be typos, forgotten punctuation, and other grammatical errors - but I am rewriting these as my Nanny originally wrote them.

As with all old handwriting, there are some entries that I can't quite make out - and these entries will be followed with a (?) to signify that this may or may not be correct or I can't figure out what she is trying to write.

Thank you Nanny for leaving us 50 years worth of memories! We miss you!

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

December 7 - 9, 1970 Aunt Ava Found Dead In Her Bed


Monday, December 7, 1970 Aunt Ava found dead in her bed

Betty and I to Portland or Westbrook today. I got my work done up, down to Betty’s. Kids still unable to go to school yet they were better. We rushed around, got ready to go to Dorothea’s to get a parcel for Betty. Es came over and stayed with the girls. We took Zak. A nice day but awful cold. We came home, I stayed with the kids and Betty took ES over to Aunt Ava’s to visit. When they drove in mail still out, no one to be seen. They discovered Aunt Ava still in bed. A tragic scene then took place, had police man come and break door to get in.




Tuesday, December 8, 1970 Cold

Cloudy and some snow flurries today, no accumulation. Betty here and Robert called. All the talk was about Aunt Ava etc. We ordered flowers. A 10 o’clock we went to Aunt Ava’s all her nieces and nephews that could come. Arnold Lane, the attorney, came and read the well, examined the two strong boxes. And took care of all legal affairs. We checked Aunt Ava’s things over after they all left except Fern, Kennard, Robert, Es and I. Got the place ready to close up until further notice.



Wednesday, December 9, 1970 Aunt Ava’s funeral

Today it snowed and we got about 6 inches. Dorothea here this morning. It is so good to have her around. We rushed around, done the work up, washed, went down to Betty’s and dried them. Came home, after we talked on Ouija and got ready to go to Aunt Ava’s funeral. It was an awful day, snowed so hard, traveling was bad. Bearers were Kennard, Cliff, Walt and Bill. She had a lot of nice pretty flowers.


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