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| Grandma Underwood |
Belen was north of Socorro. The larger community sprawled across rugged open territory.
I had the usual jitters as Mom and I entered the two –story, red brick school building to register me. For the first time, Deryl and Wanda Gaines were named as my parents on the enrollment card. During school, I kept my feelings on guard. I had decided to survive, and that meant hiding behind an emotional wall.
On the outskirts of Belen, in an older residential area, Deryl and Mom bought a four-bedroom house. Our family grew again when Grandma Underwood came to live with us. She said she would only stay until the business opportunity she was waiting for opened up.
Grandma was four feet, eleven inches tall. She may have been small, but she was mighty! She moved with perpetual energy. When she did sit down, which wasn’t often, she lit a cigarette. Her hazel eyes sparkled behind glasses, and her long auburn hair was braided on top of her head. At night, when she brushed her tresses, they hung to her waist. Once, when I was little, someone asked me where I got my long hair. I had replied, “from Grandma.”
Life had not been easy for the little lady. As a child, she experienced the death of her mother. As a young woman, she married a Kentuckian, Ernest Underwood. They moved west, leaving behind her father and only sister in Ohio
Grandma’s coming gave Deryl and Mom more time for the stations and each other. I was with Grandma more than with Mom. Mom and I were still detaching, and where once I had cared; now I was developing my own independence. I felt very distant from my mother.
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| Grandma in later years. |
