Wife of: Walter Bardell

Mother of: Grace, Henry, Earl, Viola (aka Kate), Jay, Edna, George, Edsel, Clara (aka Cally), Harold, and Barbara (aka Bobbie).

Thanks to Grace's son, Jim, for the updated info!!

I knew Mary as "Granny" even though we were not related by blood! She became my babysitter when I was about 12 weeks old.... until she passed away. She had recently lost her husband and was looking to make some money....so she had ran an ad in the Saline Reporter Newspaper looking for a babysitting job and my parents hired her!! She became Granny!

Granny died when I was only 6 years old....but I still have many memories of her! She lived in a small little apartment house with Aunt Bobbie and also with Aunt Cally and Uncle Tom in the apartment next door. She had a favorite chair in the living room that she always sat in and she let me sit on her lap! She always wore her paisley dresses....and she always had on her praying hands of Jesus necklace! We enjoyed many cookouts on the grill in the backyard with Uncle Tom, Aunt Cally and Aunt Bobbie....to this day when I smell charcoal burning I flash back to memories of them all! The ultimate best part of Granny's house though was the big bag of M&M's she kept for me in her upper kitchen cabinet!! I don't know if they were just for me.....but I sure thought so! She had to keep them up high enough in the cupboard so that I couldn't climb up on the counter and get them!! I even remember the year she came to my birthday party and brought a chocolate cake she made me....and it was covered in pink frosting and covered in M&M's!! Yummy!!

I was very young when Mary passed, but because of all the talks I had with Aunt Bobbie over the years, I learned Mary was a very strong woman, she endured the passing of two young children and her husband, and even though life was not easy, she & Walter were not rich, but they provided for their children the best they could. They were good, honest, hard working folks.

God Bless You Always!

XOXOXO