What is the oldest family member you can recall?

[OH58D]

My paternal grandfather (Dad's dad) was born in 1885, and died in 1968. I remember him, and his funeral when I was 8 years old.

[uffdaphil]

My great aunt Lizzie, born 1878 in Norway, was 70 when I was born and lived to 106. Her husband died in the early 1920s. She then moved into an apartment building in Crookston, Minnesota. The owner only rented to Christian widows and never raised their rent. She lived there for 50+ years.

She was short, under five feet and never cut her hair. When she uncoiled the rolled up braids nightly to brush it out we kids were stupefied. It was maybe seven feet long. In the sixties I asked her what she thought of women burning their bras. She approved saying bras were the devil’s work.

I remember her as a kind old lady who doted on children though she never had any of her own. And that she made a delicious glorified rice for family gatherings at my grandparents farm. Her apartment was a time machine to the 1920s complete with foot-pump organ.

[chadbag]

I knew my mom's grandmother (so my g g gm), who we called "Mor" (Her name was Borghild but "Mor", "Mother", as she was mother to the whole family, and also the mother of my grandmother). She was born in 1895 in Norway and came to the US in about 1910. She died in 1987 as a passenger in a car accident at the age of 92. I was 21, almost 22. Her husband was also from Norway, and was called "Far" (meaning "Father", actual name "Abel"). He was 11 years older than she was and died a few years before I was born, unfortunately.

I also met both of my mother's grandparents on her father's side. We called them Grandma and Grandpa Thompson (Kristian and Anne Sofie). Thompson was not their name in Norway, but the name they adopted when they got to the US. My understanding is that his name was Ogadahl and was named after the family farm, which was probably named by location (this is form memory). Her surname seems to have been Knutsen. They lived in Illinois, and we lived in Arizona at the time, but they came to Utah to visit the greater family a few times and we went up to see them when they were in Utah. They were both born in Norway in 1890. I am not sure when they came to the US.

My dad's side is mostly English and Welsh, and unfortunately, I only knew my grandmother, my dad's mom, "Anna Mae". She died when I was 23. My dad's dad died the year before I was born when he was 70. I did not know anyone further back than my grandma. My dad was the youngest kid in his family and my mom was the oldest in her family, and my dad is about 6 years older than my mom, so his relations were that much older. His dad was born the same year as my mom's grandmother, in 1895.

[chadbag]

And that she made a delicious glorified rice for family gatherings at my grandparents farm.

Was that a savory rice or a sweet "rice pudding" sort of thing? We have a supposedly Norwegian tradition of sweet rice pudding at Christmas, called "riskrem" (long-e). Not sure how authentic it is, but I do know that when I lived in Germany, they had a similar thing called "Milchreis" (Milk Rice or rice pudding), and there is a certain overlap of northern European cuisine between Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, etc.

[uffdaphil]

This Wiki definition is what she made. Though I think pineapple was replaced with raisins sometimes. We never had cherries on it. She sprinkled something on top. Nutmeg maybe.

“Glorified rice is a dessert salad popular in the Midwestern cuisine served in Minnesota and other states in the Upper Midwest and other places with Norwegians. It is popular in more rural areas with sizable Lutheran populations of Scandinavian heritage. It is made from rice, crushed pineapple, and whipped cream. It is often decorated with maraschino cherries.”

I just remembered how my grandmother and great aunt drank coffee. They would hold a sugar cube between their teeth and slurp the coffee through it. At least one of the older relatives would slurp from a saucer!

[chadbag]

This Wiki definition is what she made. Though I think pineapple was replaced with raisins sometimes. We never had cherries on it. She sprinkled something on top. Nutmeg maybe.

“Glorified rice is a dessert salad popular in the Midwestern cuisine served in Minnesota and other states in the Upper Midwest and other places with Norwegians. It is popular in more rural areas with sizable Lutheran populations of Scandinavian heritage. It is made from rice, crushed pineapple, and whipped cream. It is often decorated with maraschino cherries.”

OK, so similar to what we have but we don't have the pineapple. Just the rice and whipped cream and probably some almond flavoring. And a single (blanched) whole almond -- whoever gets it gets a prize. We put raspberry sauce on it but I think that is a family "enhancement".


Thanks!

[Alex V]

I’m 36, will be 37 this month and have three grandparents. I am extremely lucky.

My father’s parents are 95 but my grandmother isn’t going so well. Severe dementia, can’t speak. My grandfather came out to dinner with us this past weekend when I went back to NJ. Still goes on walks every morning though with a walker. He was always meticulous about making sure he got some form of exercise. His mother passed away in the late 1980’s, I am unsure of how old she was when she passed. I was a kid, maybe 5 or 6 and I don’t remember her much. She lived in a small village about an hour outside of Kiev.


My mom’s mother is 81 and doing fairly well. Her father, my Great Grandfather passed away in 2003 at the age of 94. His aunt passed at the age of 104 but I never met her.

[Watrdawg]

My Great Uncle is still alive. He's 97 and doing really well. Up until 2 years ago he was still hoping on a tractor and mowing almost 7 acres of field and grass around his farm. The last couple of years he's been living in a assisted living facility but still goes up to the farm and piddles around. I bet he makes 100 easy.

[docsherm]

My grandmother died last year. She was 102. I remember her mother that was 104 when she died in 1998. I remember meeting her mother when i was very young in the early 1970s. That was my Great Great Grandmother, she was 99 when she died in 1976.

[Furbyballer]

my grandmother passed on at 98 on my fathers side. She is the oldest in our family that I can remember.