A Farewell to Nanny

On February 21st, we said good bye to my Nanny (Agnes Wilson Hallett), was passed away at 102 yrs of age! This photo was taken at her 100th Birthday Extravaganza!

Below is my contribution to the funeral service:

It is amazing to think that my grandmother (Nanny) has lived through 18 Presidents and inventions that have changed the course of history over the past 102 yrs. It is fun to imagine her as a young girl as the “Charleston champion” kicking up her heels on the dance floor. But it is also inspiring to think that she was also at one time a single working mother after the untimely death of her first husband, something that even today is impressive, but in those days was rare. That surely showed her immeasurable strength.

Going to her house on Sundays for dinner I always looked forward to her broccoli casserole and Toll House cookies and you knew that she would always take the time to play with us.

Some of my favorite memories of Nanny are how she always played so patiently with us for hours. Whether it was playing dress-up in the attic, playing “school” in the basement with the big chalkboard (there was no one who had better penmanship than Nanny!) or playing out in the yard picking up apples and watching the birds in the birdbath, or teaching us to recite her favorite poem “I Wants a Piece of Calico”, or watching us play on the beach on our many family vacations to Ocean City…..she was always calm, patient and never tired of playing the same things over and over.

But probably the best legacy Nanny left, was the example of her marriage with my grandfather. I never once heard my grandparents argue or raise their voices to us or to one another. She was a devoted and loving wife and they were still holding hands after over 70 years of marriage. This is truly an example of love and what I’ll remember most about Nanny.