Happy Birthday Great-Great

Corinne Lillian Murwin Apfel

This is my Grandma. After I was born, my Mom returned to work and I spent week days with Grandma for three years. The bond didn't end there. Gram's house was where we had holiday feasts. It was where we gathered with aunts, uncles and so many cousins. It was where we had sleepovers upstairs in old iron beds and soft quilts. We dressed up in old clothes kept in a trunk on the back porch. We ate cookies and drank strawberry sodas at the kitchen table. We climbed the crabapple tree and picked raspberries from the garden with Grandpa and sat on the front porch in the rocking chairs where he counted cars. Grandma shared stories of her childhood... gypsies, circus bears and panhandlers. If only I'd thought far enough ahead to write some down as my memory fails me now.

When our daughter was born there was no doubt her name would have a part of Gram's. Despite living away from my hometown, I made sure we had plenty of letters to mail with pictures. Our visits always included time spent with Gram. When we moved back, Great-great, as she was loving called by our children, would 'watch' the kids while I shopped for Gram's groceries when we could no longer take her out. They'd listen to her stories while I cleaned her small apartment. I truly felt like our children came to know Great-great and love her like I always will.

Today would have been Gram's 109th birthday. Happy Birthday Great-great. We love you.