Chasing the Past

Beauton Evangeline. Now isn’t that a name? That was my Granny Boot’s given name. Her daddy didn’t like Beauton and declared he was going to call her Boots. The name evidently stuck. Many people didn’t realize it wasn’t her real name. As grandchildren came along, she became Granny Boots.

Beauton Evangeline Haywood was born December 31, 1929 to Archie Columbus Haywood and Lydia Pheneller Hall Haywood. She was an absolute saint if there ever was one. She loved unconditionally. She made sure her nieces and nephews had Easter baskets and treats. She would have extra gifts, already wrapped, so that any friends of the family who popped in at Christmas would have a gift.

Alzheimer’s was not kind to her. Now, I see commercials for medicine for the type of Alzheimer’s that makes one angry. I wonder if it had been available 15-20 years ago if it would have helped. As the disease progressed, she changed from the delightful happy woman we all had known to a quiet and brooding stranger. What she became was so unlike who she was before.

For years before she died, she could not call my name. She knew me most of the time, thankfully. Or at least knew I was supposed to be around, but she didn’t call my name. Early on, she would ask my mother, “where is her?” When she went on hospice, the nurses and aides wore nametags. My Granny got such a kick out of reading the nametags over and over. So my aunt and I hatched a plan.

We made our own name tags and placed them on our shirts when we went to help her one weekend. She read each of our names out and looked up at us and smiled so big. It was a blessing and felt so good to hear my grandmother say my name once more.

Granny Boots died September 30, 2012