Reflecting on my Great Grandma's Life

I was born in June of 1971...in October of that year, my great grandmother passed away at age 98.  Obviously I don't remember her, but sometimes I reflect on her life, and how incredible it must have been.  Just to think what happened between 1873 and 1971...amazing advances in all areas of life.  She was alive in 1903 when the Wright Brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk, and she saw man walk on the moon in 1969.  In 1873 a prototype for the typewriter was sold to Remington and Sons; in 1951 the Univac computer was sold to the US Census Bureau.  While she was a toddler, the telephone, phonograph and incandescent light bulb were all invented.  In 1893 the zipper was invented...prior to that, people had to struggle with buttons and hook and eyes.  I didn't get my license until I was 21...great grandma was 35 when the Model T came out.  I don't know how old she was when she got her license, but she drove well into her 90s.  Radio, television,  and TV dinners were all invented in her life time.

Great grandma saw horrible things, too: World War I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.  The Cuban Missile Crisis.  Born less than 10 years after the Civil War and the worst bloodshed of American soldiers in history, she lived to see the worst possible destruction as we developed and used the atomic bomb.  She saw great leaders such as JFK, Martin Luther King and Ghandi assassinated.

She saw the best of people, too.  Penicillin and the polio vaccine were developed during her lifetime.  Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.  In 1964, when she was 91, the Civil Rights Act was passed.

Looking at the past 40 years, I know that many changes have occurred. Lots of amazing things have been invented and people have accomplished great things. Maybe it is harder to see when you are actually there, but I can't imagine anything being more incredible than the transition from only birds being in the air, to planes flying above, to people walking on the moon.  I hope that if I live to be 98 years old, that I will be able to look back on my life and marvel over what I have seen.  And I hope that I am still spry enough to be driving well into my 90s.