Mocute's Birthday

October 26 was my grandmother's birthday. It will always be a very special day to me. I miss her.

Nearly two years ago when she died, I gave a short eulogy for her. I'll dig around for the file and post some of it.

My grandmother was born on a farm in Lithuania in 1911. She had few opportunities. She only went to school for two years. She worked hard on the farm and learned a trade as a barber. She eventually owned a small barber shop.

She was a modern woman who married late in life. She married my grandfather in March 1940 at the age of 29. My mother was born nine months after she married. She had another child, my aunt, in 1942. This was during the WWII in Europe. Her family was torn apart, and she fled the Russians by going to nearby Germany. There she lived above in a barn above a pig pen. She and her husband were separated for a long period of time. She had her two small children to care for and feed in very difficult times.

The family lived in refugee camps for a long time. They were among the millions of displace people after WWII as Europe was torn apart.

She came to America as a war refuge. She worked in a factory for decades making sneakers at B. F. Goodrich. (remember P. F. Flyers?) In America, she learned English, raised her family and built a life--the American Dream



She was a remarkable and strong woman.