Her name was Florence

This was my grandmother, Florence Stockbridge Sargent, a name that reeks of New England Yankee, which she was. She could trace her family back to the Revolution. She lived like a Yankee with a strong moral code, made baked beans every Saturday night, was frugal. Torn sheets were mended, double sheets turned into singles, ironing board covers, rags. Sheet saving was only one example of her way of spending every penny twice.

When I met her some three decades after this picture was taken her face had changed. She never thought of herself as attractive, but I think she was quite pretty here.

She didn't like her name. When she was born in the 1880s it was a very popular name. Now in the US almost no one is named Florence. I don't know if she knew that it came from the Latin name Florentius or the feminine form Florentia, which were derived from florens "prosperous, flourishing". Florentius was borne by many early Christian saints. The name crops up often in France but with a different accent. Its popularity is increasing in Wales.

I christened her Dar, short for darling, and Dar she became to everyone including her childhood friends. She liked Dar.

If I had to name the most influential person in my life, it was Dar. Although she died on Good Friday 44 years ago, I would still love to be able to talk with her, listen to her wisdom, laugh with her...and eat some of her meals such as a good New England boiled dinner and the following red flannel hash.

What was her greatest lesson? She taught me how to love.