I found some notes today that I had taken when we were at my grandma's house in Arizona and at my uncle's house in Utah the summer after I graduated from high school.
Since I'm not the world's most organized person, I thought I would record some of the things from those conversations here as well as some things I remember my grandma telling me about her life growing up.
My grandma, Iva Norma Ruchti Wheatley, was the 8th of 10 children. Her father left his wife and she raised the children on her own with many struggles and hardship. My Uncle Art told me that his mom "invented" single parenthood. He said that she kept her children very disciplined - she gave them a spanking immediately when they sassed her. I can imagine she did so out of necessity - probably if one got out of line, they would entice all the others to do so as well and then she'd have a rebellion on her hands and be very outnumbered!
Uncle Art said that his little sister, Jean, used to get him in trouble and my grandma would do her best to lie him out of it. That sounds like my grandma - she was always good at elaborating her stories with colorful details. In fact, when my parents were first married my dad didn't believe much of what my mom told him because he was so used to having to filter out the truth of his mom's stories.
I remember my grandma telling me that she and her siblings had an invented language and they loved to "fool" their mom at the dinner table by speaking in code. That worked well until one evening where she asked a complete sentence in their "secret" language and they realized she had known what they were saying all along. Once my grandma and Aunt Jean spoke a little bit of it for me - they still remembered it after all those years.
The Ruchtis are known for their height - or rather, lack of it. My grandma was 4 feet 10 inches tall and most of her siblings hovered right at the 5 feet or under range. I remember when I finally got taller than my grandma I was SOOOO excited and she looked at me and said, "Honey, that doesn't mean much." At least I made it over 5 feet!
I am so grateful my great-grandma, Beryl Cardon, persevered in raising her large family despite personal hardships. She is an example of dedication, love, and faith.
