Nana Banana the Go Go Girl

Of all my grandparents, I was closest by far to my grandmother Rivers (Phyllis McCausland Rivers, married to Burke Rivers), who lived until 1999 when Alex was 2 years old.  You called her Gran-Nana.  She was just Nana to the Rivers grandchildren. We recently got some "new" pictures of her through Aunt Ginny and Edie, which you can see above.  The first one is Dad and me with Nana at the reception after Julie and Mike Boonie were married in 1988.  The second is Nana and a teenage Uncle John at Christmas, 1990.  Today I want to share some memories of her from Alex's early childhood.  And more of my own.

Alex, you were a light of Gran-Nana's eye.  She came to the hospital to see you as a newborn, and was always glad to spend time with us (which was true up until the night before she passed away, when we went to see her at the hospital).  Most often we visited at her house in Dallas, on Lehman Ave just a short distance from Aunt Pam's house.  I remember feeding you cereal and later simple finger foods at her kitchen table.  Over the summers, we would take Nana to visit Uncle Dick and Aunt Ginny at their Ganoga Lake house (very close to Lake Jean, at Ricketts Glen Park).

Nana's full title as "Nana Banana the Go Go Girl", bestowed on her by my slightly older cousin Matthew.  She was a happy person, always interested in her grandchildren and willing to help care for us "hands on" - which not every grandparent wants to do.  She was an exceptional person in her own right.  She contributed significantly to church life and volunteered with organizations like Family Service and United Way.   Here are some things you may find interesting.

• Nana's brother John McCausland is Edie's father (Edie is Nana's niece).  He was Great Uncle John to me.  Your uncle John was born within a couple months after his death, and is named John McCausland Rivers.
• Her father was Charles McCausland; as you know, the McCausland family was part of the Scottish Clan Buchanan (whose land was east of Loch Lomond).  Your Grandad's middle name is Buchanan, as is Rob's.  Charles and Viola McCausland lived in Webster, MA, where he was a supervisor at a woolen mill.  In addition to her younger brother John, Nana had an older sister Grace.  
• Their mother's parents were Andrew and Maryellen Tester Walker who lived at 14 Hill Street, a house which they built (it was very helpful to have a 2-unit home, which allowed for rental income).  They did not always get along; for some time, Grandfather Walker apparently lived in the unheated attic.  (Their marriage certificate is framed and hanging along our stairway.)  Nana mentioned to met that while she was growing up breakfast was normally oatmeal, but she noticed that her grandfather was lucky enough (at least sometimes) to have pie for breakfast.
• Nana did very well in school; she graduated from high school at age 16 then worked for a year at a local bank.  She got a scholarship to attend Radcliffe College, the women's college that was affiliated with Harvard.  Nana told me about a Harvard organization that had a nasty hazing ritual.  As an initiation rite before joining the club or whatever it was, freshmen were subjected to swallowing raw oysters with a string tied to them.  After swallowing them, the upperclassmen pulled the string to bring the oysters back up and forced the boys to repeat the process.  
• While at Radcliffe, she met her future husband Burke.  She told me that as a symbol of his commitment, he gave her his Harvard class pin while they were spending an afternoon at a Massachusetts beach.  She promptly dropped it in the sand, for all their efforts they were unable to find it, and he ultimately got a second class pin to give her (and they were not cheap!)  I still have that pin.  A few years later, they married after he graduated from divinity school, which he attended in New York City.
• He went on to have parishes in New Haven, CT and later Johnson City, NY before being called to Wilkes-Barre.  Great Grandad was the minister at St Stephen's Church in Wilkes-Barre, and they lived at the rectory next door (now the Luzerne County Historical Society Library) from the late '40's to 1972.  Your Grandad remembers watching construction of The Boston Store parking lot from his bedroom window.  I remember a lovely back yard, riding a toddler-size train engine on a walkway next to the church, and playing "ring-around-the-rosy" at the dike by the river.  I also remember going over to The Boston Store (across the street, now Boscovs), which had a kiddie carousel in the basement and escalators that certain little girls liked to run up - both the up and down directions.  (It's important to note that most, but not all, of the time, it was Aunt Julie whose excessive levels of energy resulted in getting us in trouble.)
• Very fortunately, Great Grandad retired and they moved only a few weeks before the Agnes Flood in June, 1972 to live at a retirement home they had built in Beaumont (about 10 miles away from Dallas).  Great Grandad had not been well for some years and sadly died in 1979.  
• A few years later, Nana sold the house (as it was too isolated for her to live there alone) and moved to Dallas.  Dad and I helped her get ready to move, over a summer during my high school years.  While I was going to King's College, I lived with her - a happy time for both of us.  I did not have a car, so got back-n-forth to Wilkes-Barre taking the Route 6 bus which came to the main intersection in Dallas (now a traffic circle).
• After I graduated from college in 1986 and started working full-time, I continued to live with her until Dad and I got married in 1987.  It was our tradition to have dinner at her house on Friday nights, and sometimes on Sunday nights.  Nana was kind and generous to all of us.
• After Nana died, Edie invited us to visit at 14 Hill Street, which has stayed in the Walker-McCausland families for generations.  Alex, you were probably 3 when we began weekend trips to Webster to see Edie and Jon.  Approximately 20 years later, Webster has become a special place to us as well.  Isn't it amazing and wonderful?

Grandparents can be real life superheroes - it's wonderful that I knew all of mine.  You are blessed as well, since you've known three of yours.  We are all busy and it can be hard to find time for older family members.  But remember that they won't be around for ever, and take the opportunities you can to enjoy your family.