Recent History – 1970s

OR:  Who is Smitty and why do we call her that?  (Pictures are coming)

At the beginning of the seventies I was in college in Seattle, Washington.  My family was at Fort Ord, California and had been since 1966.  A few months after I left for college Dad was deployed to Viet Nam.   When he got back he was reassigned to Fort Ord and for the first time in my life my family had been in one house for more than 2 years.  But not me, I was in Seattle.  While I was there, I think it was my junior year; I got the letter that jokes are made of.  “Hope you are doing well in school.  We have moved to a new address.”   

They had bought a house and moved to the town neighboring Fort Ord.  The same year I graduated from college Dad retired from the Army.  He retired on Friday and on Monday went back to the same office as a civilian consultant. 

In the mid 70s we started getting married.  Brother Mark first, then me, then sister Betsy.  When Mark got married Grandma Smith came out from Illinois.  She was there for all of the weddings and never moved back to Illinois.

At the end of the 70s the grandbabies started coming.  Mom’s grandbabies.  In the summer of 1979 brother Mark had Katharine, I had Erik, and Uncle John had Cindy.  I had a son, niece and cousin all in a few months.  After that babies were a yearly occurrence for several years.  The next year came Laura, the next Annemarie, the next Jonathan then lastly was Andrew.  Erik was my only one and we were living in Virginia.  Mark and Betsy and their children were all in California and near enough to drive to Grandma Phillips’ house for the day or weekend.

That’s when it happened, I’m told.  When those babies started talking and saying “Grandma” both my mom and my grandmother would smile and look up.  The kids were getting confused.  By mutual agreement my Grandma Smith became “Smitty” and then everyone knew who they were talking about.  We all began calling her Smitty.  Even now when we talk about her we call her Smitty, and smile.

So that’s how it happened.  I will try to carefully call her Grandma Smith in these postings.  Partly to remind of the relationship of whom I speak.  But if, in my excitement and casualness I refer to someone as Smitty, please know it is with love and fondness that it is Grandma Smith I am speaking of.

The rest of this story is this.  Those kids who were born the summer of ’79 are growing up nicely.  Katharine and Cindy are both finishing graduate school this spring.  Erik was married 18 months ago and his lovely wife, Bethany is our newest family member.  However, as I write this I am waiting word from Betsy that Laura has given birth to the next generation in our family.  In the baby pool I picked February 3^rd, but they say it could happen at any moment.  Best wishes and Good Luck go out to Laura and Aaron, Betsy and David, Grammy and the new little boy coming soon.