Grandma Berry and Jerry (right) with friends late 1940’s or early 50’s.

My father’s mother, Grandma Berry, as we called her, was born in 1909. Grandma was divorced when my dad was about five and later married Gerald Berry. He was a kind, easy going man that worked at one of the Ford plants in Detroit. I remember his metal lunch pail. It was black on the outside and shiny metal gray on the inside. Many men had that same lunch pail. Jerry, as we called him, died in 1960. Grandma was a widow for 34 years before she died in 1994.  Grandma never considered remarrying.  In the early 90’s, she told me an elderly religious gentleman, that had recently become a widower, asked her to marry him.  She become so anxious at the thought that the only thing she could think to say and not hurt his feelings was, “Oh, no.  I couldn’t marry.  I’m married to Jesus!”  The gentleman understood and did not pursue the matter any further. Read more