By Velma M. Rose Smith, Oct 17, 1961

I am 61 years of age today. You noticed I did not say I am 61 years old, because I am not old. To me, old means deteriorated from long use, worn, decayed, or dilapidated. Perhaps I do have the characteristics of old age, the gray hair, the stiff joints and my middle aged spread kept on spreading, but really I don’t feel that I am old.

Perhaps there are some good reasons, one is that mama is living, I can call on her for advice, the same as my girls call on me. Another reason is having children at home, how fortunate we have our “second family”, for I need kids around. I enjoy my grandchildren too, I like to help them with their school work. I like to hear them tell of their fun, and to listen to their problems.

Now, I can see where something that one of our older children did that I thought at the time was terrible, and they got punished, doesn’t look so bad to me now, but rather funny. Maybe that is mellowness of age. I am still firm in my belief of discipline. Most of the young parents are letting their children get away with too much. If they can’t control them now, when they are little, what are they going to do when the kids are teenagers. Young people don’t respect their parents, their teachers, or the ministers, and it is the parents fault. I expect children to mind me, and do believe they like me just as well. It is because I love them all, that I want them to obey me, it might save their life.

I like them to call me Velma, it is my name, and I like it, they nor I, think it is disrespectful. That is, I am speaking about the neighborhood children and young people. My grandchildren call me Grandma. That did sound strange at first, “Grandma”, maybe because Mama is called Mama Rose, and when I thought of Grandma, I thought of my Grandma Jones and Grandma Rose. I think they must have been 52 when I was born, and I was 46 when Linda and Sandra were born. But I had a little girl three years ago and a four year old boy, which I think made a difference.

Now, I have 20 grandchildren, would have 21 if Janine had lived. Jeanette is expecting a baby in December and we hope it will be a girl. I know both her and Bob would love to have a girl, but of course they would love a boy too, for they have three of the cutest boys, so alike, and yet so different.