Although he died 8 years prior to my birth, my great grandfather on my mother’s side, Norman, has to be one of the most inspirational people in my life. He was the all-American man: loving husband and father of two, advertising man for Wohl Shoe Company, and an incredibly talented artist, magician, and ventriloquist. How can I know this you ask? The fact that my childhood was molded from spending lots and lots of time with his widow, my beloved great- grandmother Anne, “Gramma Annie” as my brother and I called her. She regaled us with stories about grampa Norman and his artwork and other stuff I was too young to understand at the time.
I started to become good (fair) at drawing and it became a passion for me, second only to cartoons and voice actors, specifically Mel Blanc. My brother and my cousins and I were robbed of the chance to know him as a person, but his deeds, his and my great-grandmother’s transcend time. Grampa grew gladiolas and donated the proceeds to help disabled children, was a mason, and taught night school classes on art and advertising. I am his third oldest great grandchild with my brother being the oldest. It falls upon me to see that his spirit lives on and that his experiences and masterpieces are preserved for posterity. I want my nephew to know the kind of man we are descended from, and the wonderful, caring, compassionate, and strong woman that he married.
When I am drawing my Jones Sisters comics, I feel like part of Grampa flows through my pen and pencil, as I teach myself how to improve on my drawings. My Gramma Annie was the one who fostered my artistic interest and it began with just simple tracing paper and the Sunday funnies, and stencils. Like what I’m training to be, Gramma Anne was a stenographer, maybe not the same kind, I’m not sure, she was also a bookkeeper for a lighting company in downtown St. Louis.
There are so many wonderful memories that I had of my Great Gramma in my childhood that I could never part with for all the riches of the Cassadines. The fact that Ariella’s forebears are able to speak to her after death via the ethereal plane comes from my fervent desire to speak to her one last time, and finally meet the grandfather I have loved all my life. I speak from my own voice, but I can imagine there are so many out there who share this feeling with me about their own loved ones. The only way to know for sure is to keep your hope and faith alive.
Seventh Ocean Media 