Grandma Davis, as I called her, was a tiny little woman. She was well under 5 feet tall and as tough as they come. She spent her whole life in the Columbia, MO area.

As was true of most people in those days, Grandma was born at home and the 1920 census finds the family in Rocky Fork Township living next door to the Davis family. She wound up marrying the boy next door, Philip Woodburn Davis on September 11, 1921. They had five children (Philip, Lena, Ada, Effie and Harold) and raised them all in the area. Grandma and Grandpa both worked for the University of Columbia, Grandma in the medical field.

My mother was Grandma's first daughter, Lena, who was also called, "Polly". When I was a girl, my family went to visit Grandma and my Mom's other family. Her sister, Effie, lived on a farm in Hallsville and since we were a big family, we usually stayed there. We were city kids from California and they still had an outhouse so we were pretty appalled but there was always plenty of fun things to do and great food to eat so we had a lot of fun playing with out cousins.

I felt a special kinship to my Grandma who now lived in a tiny little house on 10th Street in Columbia. It was one of the rare times I got to spend with her alone. As one of 8 children, you can imagine how special that might be. Anyway, I remember walking down the street with her to visit her friends and feeling very special. It makes me wonder if my love for "old people" wasn't sparked in those days.

I'm already aware that my love for pies and cobblers was "birthed" in those visits. Grandma was famous for her fabulous cobblers and I can picture several on her table at once! My favorite was her Gooseberry Cobbler, using home grown goosberries. I can't help but remember how she came out to California about a year before she died and made a gooseberry cobbler because she knew it was my favorite. Where she found the gooseberries, I don't know, but apparently, in her old age, she had either forgotten how much sugar to add or her own sweet tooth had changed. My mouth puckers at the thought of it! Being such a loving granddaughter, I managed to eat my whole piece and even took some home with me.

That is my last memory of my stout little grandmother. I still miss her. If you have a grandma or grandpa still living, pick up the phone and call them today while you still can.

Pearl Davis