Play it again, Grandma

My Grandma, Maxine Weeks, passed away last week, at the age of 93, living with Alzheimer's during her final years. She was married to my Grandpa, Richard, who died 3 years ago. They were married some 70 years having met each other as neighbors living on the same block as teenagers in Rochester, Minnesota.

Maxie was an accomplished musician traveling around the Midwest for most of her life playing piano and organ in a variety of venues. She had perfect pitch and became known as "the lady with a thousand songs" (or something like that) because she could play just about anything you requested, at the lounges where she headlined. She was based in Minneapolis-St.Paul, had her own radio program and was the first female member of the Rotary Club.

Though this lifestyle meant being away from her family quite a bit, she was certainly unique for her time as a woman with a musical career. She also taught piano and organ, designed and sewed her own clothes, and cooked and baked obsessively for people. I always remember her having a beautiful, long-haired cat around when I would visit her; Fuzzy was my favorite and my brother adopted her last cat, Dali, before she went into the nursing home. Dali was so named because she thought it was a female originally (Dolly), but upon learning of the blundered gender changed the spelling to Dali, after the artist, Salvador.

She always tried to hide this publicity photo of hers from back in the day because she didn't think it was appropriate for her grandchildren to see her cleavage. Though my Mom certainly has a different story to tell about her, this is the one I like for me, as her grandaughter - she was a beautiful, talented diva who wrote her own script.