“Be strong and never give up; your work will be rewarded."
~ 2 Chronicles 15:7
She charmed people wherever she
went. A tiny, dynamic woman with
mischievous gray eyes and a quick wit, she could be sharp-tongued with a bootlicker
and stern with a defiant child.
Cheerful, as a lark, she remained keenly observant even in
her later years. She worked every day until
her last birthday.
Born the 3rd of nine children, she left home at
age 12 to work on a neighboring farm. Until
her marriage at age 26, she earned a living sewing, cooking, and housekeeping
for wealthy families.
The couple had 10 children (but only
5 survived past infancy). In addition to
her work as a farm wife and mother, she helped support her family by selling
various homemade foods. Sadly, her
husband died in 1927; the widow never remarried. She continued to work the farm with the help
of her youngest son, busying herself with needlepoint and quilting.
By her late 70s, her fingers were
no longer nimble enough for the small detail work of embroidery. She found it much easier to hold a paintbrush
and tried her hand at painting.
The old woman felt her farm and country scenes were good
enough to show at the fair. Her
raspberry jam won a ribbon. No one
noticed her paintings.
Undeterred, she continued to paint, using whatever materials
she could find: ground ochre, grass, flour paste, slack lime and sawdust. And although familiar with the hardships of
farm life, she portrayed happier childhood memories of fields and storms, barn
dances, and holidays of rural life. She
deliberately omitted telephone poles, tractors, and other examples of
industrialization.
One day an art collector noticed several of her paintings on
display in the window of a local drug store. He bought them all. When he showed them to his friends in the art
circles of New York City, they were more curious about the artist.
Soon, "Grandma Moses" gained an international
reputation. Her widely-collected works
of art were featured on calendars, greeting cards and in exhibitions in the
leading galleries, including the Modern Museum of Art in New York City.
Even more amazing, it’s reported that 25 of her more than
1,600 paintings were done after she had turned 100! Her 100th birthday was heralded by Life
magazine on its September, 1960, cover. The
character Granny on the popular 1960s TV comedy series The Beverly Hillbillies was named Daisy Moses as homage to Grandma
Moses. She lived to be 101 years
old.
Though her success began late in her life, she still left a
legacy. Individuals have learned from
her experience that it is never too late to start something you’ve always
dreamt of doing. Isn’t it time you got
started?
Father, thank you for the blessing of
maturity. The elderly bring to life the
wisdom that comes from having failed as often as they succeeded, relinquished
as much as they accumulated, and keen insight into what’s most important in
this life. Amen
