The Gratitude Project - Day 2

Something big happened at the start of August that I never recorded.  After hours and hours (oh so many hours!) I finished a small portion of the project I have been working on since last November - recording my Grandmother Ellsworth's life history.  For months I have been scanning pictures, documents, etc., interviewing Grandma about her life and then converting our conversations into a chronological account that I will turn into a book with corresponding life pictures.  However, as I was scanning GG's documents I came across a fat manila envelope with about a hundred letters sent from Mary Jane (Grandma) to her parents from the years 1943-1945 while she worked for the American Red Cross in Calcutta, India during World War II.  Those letters, combined with several hundred pictures of her service during the War couldn't possibly be crammed into one small chapter in her life history, so I set aside the other artifacts for a month while I again spent hours and hours organizing her India documents into their very own book.  The finished project was a thick 440 page book (the most Blurb allows you to print!) pictured below.

Blurry camera photo - I gave the actual book to Grandma in August.

It was so rewarding for me to watch Grandma thumb through the book, so delighted to have all of her pictures and letters in one place and reliving so many memories by perusing its pages.  I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to help Grandma record her history.  I call Grandma once a week now to ask her more questions and most days while Daphne is napping I work on typing up and organizing her memories.  It is the most worthwhile project I have ever worked on as I have learned so much about my ancestors, my darling Grandmother and even myself through the process.  She is a remarkable woman and I am lucky to be her granddaughter.  I am so grateful that at 94-years-old her mind is still sharp and we still have her with us to try and preserve as many of the memories of her life as possible.

Here are just a couple of the pictures and documents inside of her India book.  I can't wait to finish her entire history!  

Grandma's top secret orders to travel to L.A. where she and 40 other girls set sail with several hundred soldiers for Calcutta, India.  They didn't know they were going until halfway through their expedition!

  

The U.S.S. Uruguay where Mary Jane met Captain Otto Ellsworth on the first day at sea and fell in love with him on the 6 week voyage to India.

 

 

Mary Jane Newlon and Captain Otto Ellsworth

Out on the river with Otto on a hunting expedition on one of their days off.

June, 1945 - After nearly 18 months of waiting Otto and Mary Jane were given permission to marry.  They were married in Assam, India in the Church of England without a single member of their families in attendance.  Look how forlorn the men of Otto's regiment were during the reception!  I'm sure they were all pining for sweethearts of their own waiting back home.