Evelyn Augusta Otillie Euphemia Mertens

...was a real person.
It is she who I invoke when I need an answer to a toddler's silly question. Or when I need to say something out of frustration and the kids' are in earshot.

She was born January 19, 1905, probably in Detroit, the youngest of seven children. Her parents had emigrated from Germany. Her schooling finished after eighth grade and she went to work at Kern's Department Store in the layaway department. She married John MacRobert Ross on November 20, 1926 (his 18th birthday). They had a daughter and lost her to diptheria when she was 3. They had five more children and moved to Hazel Park in 1944, where the previous residents had taken the hot water heater with them (hey, there was a war on).

Her husband died on July 18, 1989 after a long struggle with emphysema. She was called home to God on January 1, 2000, at the tender age of 94. At the end she suffered from dementia and a host of other problems, but I still miss her. She was my grandmother.

Just a reminder: I get to write in red; Dale is probably in black.