Remembering Grandma

Grandma, Mom, Sara, me, Jaelyn (four generations)

                                   

My last surviving grandparent, Patricia Joan Driscoll Dagsen Gilbert, passed away January 17. She was my best friend, and I was her favorite grandchild. (My cousins think the same thing about them. I don’t know where they got that idea.) No new memories. No more hearing her voice—I hope I never forget it.

She was born April 29, 1930, in Idaho. Her father was a bassoonist in the Idaho State Symphony until he lost several fingers in a train accident. Her brother, Jay, arrived in 1940 in a basket left on the doorstep. I had no idea! Corin’s middle name is Jay, named after him. Great-Uncle Jay was a Vietnam vet and later a pilot for the Saudi royal family. He died in Saudi Arabia in 1985.

Jay Lee Driscoll

Grandma was a dancer from an early age, even tap dancing for the radio. She was a drum majorette in high school and then majored in art at Idaho State. She taught dance to pay for tuition. (Her accompanist went on to become the famous Roger Williams.) The fraternities voted her as something like “Best Legs.”

Grandma was a hottie

In 1950 she married Lester Sloan Dagsen, a native of Likely, California, a tiny town along Highway 395. He was a pharmacist. They lived in Redding and then Cedarville, north of Likely. They learned how to fly small planes. That’s right—my grandma could fly a plane. They had three children. My mom was the oldest. When Grandpa Lester was 39, he died of a heart attack. (My mom was 15.)

Grandma, the Dagsen-Gilbert children, Grandpa Dagsen

Grandpa Dagsen at the drugstore

Grandma's wedding to Grandpa Dagsen

A year later Grandma married Dr. Jack Clinton Gilbert, who was widowed with three of his own kids. He had worked closely with the pharmacist, Grandpa Lester. The combined six kids had basically grown up together already. Grandma never made a distinction between children and stepchildren. They built a house just outside town on five acres. It’s a ranch house with five bedrooms and three bathrooms and four skylights that everybody hates.

Jack died of cancer on Christmas 1980. I have a few memories of him; most of the grandchildren do not. He has been elevated to something of a legend in the valley. (Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha was named after him.) Several grandchildren now work in the medical field.

Grandpa Gilbert was a hottie, too

the three Gilbert children

Grandma and Grandpa Gilbert

Grandma loved sweets and always had ice cream, cookies, cake, otter pops, and candy around. Her fridge was covered with these awesome magnets, mostly of food, and we’d get in trouble for touching them. She’d have cake for breakfast. The Gilberts had horses on their property and usually a dog. Grandma cared for every stray cat that came their way. She even stole two kittens who were being abused. She said she just went over in the middle of the night with my aunt and took them. They are still there.

Grandma served an LDS mission to Denver in 1988. She devoted much time to genealogical research. She played the piano and organ and loved old musicals. She never just walked; she waltzed everywhere. She mastered the art of sarcasm. She was just cool. She wasn’t perfect, but she was awesome.