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Betty Baisley








 WCW I’m writing about my Grandmother for her birthday. The way she wanted me to when she was alive. The stories that my family attempt to elicit out of me.


In 5th Grade I won the NYC Writing Contest based on an piece I wrote about Nana. I literally blocked it out guys ALL these years.  Not that  it was about her but the depth of the subject matter. It was the only time besides when Carlyn died and my Daddy that I really saw her cry HARD. Even now I feel like I am betraying her(I know for naught) Nothing fazed this WOMAN. To compensate for my deplorable handwriting God assigned me the gift of prose. Mommy was sooo elated. Ms. Rand too. It had been a HARD year for my family 


I also have a great Memory and my paper Ms. Goldstein held on to it like Ms. Douglas and Ms. Kaplan and Karen Connors would later down the line. They always reread it over and over again and would look at me. When I feel weak and get tired of fighting the powers that be and who don’t BE I draw on the fact that it’s statistically proven that I will WIN I always do. Because even if I lose it’s a lesson. Kita Jean taught me that. She’s so similar to Nana in so many ways. 


Two arms and endless love. 


100 years ago God said “I will create a Woman that will be reared by her Aunt Bert and taught loyalty and humility. I will give her the fortitude of gold, the patience of Job and a heart that can hold so many. It will be beat for 89 years and create a legacy that will last the test of time. I will name her BETTY JENKINS and she will meet James Filmore on My Time and they will helm in Heaven and on Earth together their family through it ALL.”


She was not an ostentatious person. She was anomaly. She was born at the beginning of the 20th century as an orphan and grew up during the Great Depression. Never melancholy or morose just forging ahead and moving right along. She had 13 children yet her circumstances, her race or gender never suppressed or stifled her tenacity. 


One of the greatest compliments is when the Mother of your Grandchildren weep when you pass away. My Mother loved and respected my Nana because she was THERE every TIME. 


I love you and WE are EVERYTHING we ARE because you LOVED us.

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