Hi! I’m Alice from Akron

I was recently thinking about one of sweetest women I have ever known, my grandmother on my dad’s side, Alice Josephine Rutledge, or as she would introduce herself…Alice from Akron!

It’s somewhat of a risk sometimes to talk about people that are near and dear to your heart but unknown to others outside of the family. It can be something like showing your home movies to strangers. They will usually not get it, but you might be laughing or crying like a crazy person. But I’m going to risk it because I think you will love this lady as much as I do. If not, just pretend and go along for the ride.

My dad’s side of the family was from the Wheeling, West Virginia area and immigrated to Ohio in the 1930’s to seek their fame and fortune in the burgeoning industrial revolution that was taking place in the Midwest United States. Grandpa Rut came to Akron to work at the tire plants to escape the coal mines in West Virginia. My family was hard-working, down-to-earth and quite rough and tumble. I’m sure we were not being invited to the high social teas or vacationing in the Hamptons but if you wanted to have fun and laugh too loud, we were the ticket!

Grandma Rut’s family was from the Steubenville, Ohio area and I believe she was an only child of her parents. They moved to the Akron area for the same reasons and my Grandma Rut was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in the later part of 1915. She met my grandpa, and they were married when she was 20 in Wheeling in 1936 and my dad was born in 1937. They had two more sons and one daughter and grandpa worked for General Tire and Rubber Company until his death in 1973. As you can see, my roots were similar to many in the Akron area at that time. It’s a story told by many.

Growing up I don’t remember spending a lot of time with them, but we would see each other on the holidays and special events. I do remember that she did not have a driver’s license, never had a car, took the bus everywhere, and was a stay-at-home mom and raised the family while grandpa went to work in the tire factory. Pretty standard at that time.

Grandpa died when I was 12 years old, and my dad and uncles took over the responsibility of taking care of her. She was very feisty and very outgoing. She loved being the center of attention and always had stories to tell and could spin a web (Hmm, sounds like someone I know!). She was highly independent at the same time and would ride the bus everywhere she needed to go. When her health and memory started to struggle, she moved into a high-rise senior citizen tower near downtown Akron. She did not go easily into that one. She fought hard to keep her independence but ultimately relented.

One story told is that she was waiting for a bus outside of her place with a friend, some young person came up and tried to mug her and her friend. Boy, did that guy pick the wrong lady! My grandma Rut beat this kid into the bushes with her cane and got on the bus. My dad freaked but she was a tough old girl and felt she could handle herself.

Another story that I remember was that she was struggling with high blood pressure and the doctor asked her if she was under any stress. She said that she always is because she was always trying to be nice. The doctor gave her “permission” to not be nice when someone was stressing her out. When she got home she was a different woman. She was lighting everyone up. My dad would just come home and shake his head and say stuff like, “You won’t believe what she said to me today!” Please tell me dad, PLEASE!

As I got older and was traveling a lot for work, I would try and plan some trips back to Ohio and see everyone. On one of those trips home, I called her and told her that I was coming into town and that I wanted to take her out for a real swanky dinner date. She could pick ANYWHERE she wanted to go. We would get dressed up and I was going to show her a night on the town. I arrive at her place, and I still have my suit from work on and I head up to her apartment and she is all dolled up and ready to go! I ask her, “Grandma, where have you decided to go tonight? I’m really looking forward to this!”. She informs me that she has given it a lot of thought and she wants me to take her to….wait for it….Denny’s. I bite the inside of mouth so that I wouldn’t laugh, and counter with, “Grandma, I make enough money now, we can go ANYWHERE you want. It is my treat, please don’t worry about the cost.” She lets me know very clearly that Denny’s is EXACTLY where she wants to go. Okay, Denny’s it is grandma, let’s go!

We drive less than a mile to Denny’s and I open the door for her and put my arm out for her to hold on to and we enter Denny’s for a night of unabashed food delights. She walks into the place like the Queen and she waves at all the people she knows and they all stop eating their All-Star Special and wave back and check out the eye candy Ms. Alice has shown up with! Now I know why she wanted to go here! What a riot.

Well, we enjoy our Senior Citizen Special and some conversation and Grandma is in her glory. She didn’t stop smiling and looking around the entire evening. So, I milk this for her for and hour and a half or so and suggest we get back before they send a posse to find her. She agrees and right before she gets up to leave she dumps ALL of the condiments and other stuff on the table into her purse and says, okay, I’m ready! I say quietly to her, you can’t take all of that stuff. She looks at me and lets me know that it is free and she does this “all the time”. I see that I’m not going to win this one, so I throw and extra $10 on the tip and take the Queen back out to her chariot.

It was hilarious. She was so much fun.

Today’s blog will be about the time I flew her down to Atlanta and introduced her to my friends and family and got to listen to her say, “Hi! I’m Alice from Akron!”

But First…A Joke:

A woman had a dream, God appeared to her and said, “I’m going to grant you another 40 years, 8 months and 22 days of life.” Well, she woke up and she was too excited. And she thought, If that’s going to happen, I’m going to get a little bit of work done.

So, if you could nip it or tuck it, push it or pull it, she had it done. Man, she was looking GOOD. So, she decided she was going to take herself out for a night on the town. she was downtown walking across the street and a car ran a red light. Bam! Hit her, killed her instantly.

She woke up in heaven and said, “Now, God, I don’t understand this. You said you would grant me another 40 years, 8 months and 22 days of life, and here I am standing before you. What’s up with that?”

God looked at her and said, “I didn’t recognize you.”

A Verse to Contemplate:

I keep my eyes always on the Lord, with him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. - Psalm 16:8

Have I Told You This One?

So, after our big night out on the town, I took her back to her apartment and we visited for a few more hours and I told her I needed to go but I had an offer for her. She sat up in her chair and asked, “What is it?” I told her I would pay for her flight to Atlanta, and she could stay with me and Michelle and that I would show her all around Atlanta and then fly her back home. No charge, just come down for a visit.

I hoped she would take me up on it, but she basically had not been anywhere outside of Akron very much and I thought this might be too much of an ask, but much to my surprise and delight she said she would love to do that. Awesome! I told her I would work out the details with dad and we would set a date for the big trip south.

I set a date and buy her a round trip ticket on Eastern Airlines (dating myself) and asked dad to make sure she gets on the flight in Akron, and I will pick her up in Atlanta. The big day approaches and my dad keeps asking her if she still wants to do it and she doesn’t back down. She had never been on an airplane before, so this was a pretty big step for Alice from Akron.

Back then the Akron Canton Airport was a much smaller airport and when you boarded you had to walk out on the tarmac and then up the stairway. Dad was watching her and she started out strong but when she got about halfway to the plane, she stopped. Dad thought this was where she would finally bail but she steadied herself and got on the plane.

I put her in an aisle seat because I wasn’t sure if she would want a window seat. I also had a note on her ticket that this was her first ever flight and to keep and eye out for her. The flight attendants were great to her and gave her a set of wings they usually give the kids and made sure she was comfortable. As they went through the safety announcements at the beginning of the flight she raised her hand when it finished and asked “Where are the parachutes?” They told her kindly that there weren’t any and that anything serious would happen that she would make sure she was taken care of. I’m sure she was talking non-stop to them to aid her fears and nervousness as well as getting to know her new best friends.

Right before takeoff, she asked the flight attendant if she could move to the window. It was a Saturday morning flight that had a lot of open seats, so they told her that was fine. She moves over to the window and the plane takes off. As she leans over to look out the window the plane banks in the same direction which she thinks she caused. She sits back up and the plane levels out. Again, she thinks she has much more control of the plane than she does.

We pick her up at the gate (pre-September 11), ride the plane train to baggage claim, ride the big escalators, pick up her bag and head for downtown for a lunch at the Sun Dial Room on the top of the Westin Hotel (the largest hotel in the South). She is blown away by the traffic and sounds of the big city. Once we get to the restaurant, she gets this odd look on her face and she asks, “are we moving?” “Yes, Gram this is a rotating restaurant, 75 floors up.” We have our lunch and she is having the time of her life. Michelle and I feel really good that we can give her this experience.

The next day, my Company was having our annual summer picnic up at Allatoona Lake. I alerted them that I was bringing a very special guest, and all my friends and coworkers went out of their way to make her feel welcome. As I introduced her around, they would say their names and ask her some questions and then she would reply with “Hi! I’m Alice from Akron!” For years my coworkers and managers would ask me how Alice from Akron was doing. She was a hit! I never had any doubt.

When the week was over, we reversed the process and took her to her plane at Hartsfield and walked down to the gate with her and she jumped on the plane like a pro. Dad picked her up and he said she didn’t stop talking for a month. He did call me later to say thanks but it was my pleasure. He said, I don’t know what you paid for those tickets but to her it was priceless. He told me he would catch her telling her friends at the tower stuff like “On my latest flight down to Atlanta” and “Did I tell you that I had lunch 70 stories in the sky?”

Dementia took her away eventually and she passed in the early 1990s. It was hard to see her go out like that and ultimately, she didn’t know who I was or anyone else for that matter. That is such a cruel way to leave. I’m glad I got to know her better and that we had this experience.

It was the best $138 I ever spent.

A Prayer:

Father, help me not to lose sight of Your deep love for me in the midst of my struggles. I invite Your Spirit to work in and through me to overcome the struggles and obstacles I face.

A Book Recommendation:

A Grace Disguised (How the Soul Grows Through Loss) by Jerry Sittser (1995, 2021)

A Music Recommendation:

Blues of Desperation by Joe Bonamassa (2016)