Only one of my great-grand parents was still alive during my lifetime. I remember her as as impossibly old and frail. (Likely she wasn’t, but I was a wee lad.) She died when I was very young. I didn’t know her beyond a few visits.
I don’t remember my mother’s-mother’s-mother very well: she died when I was 5. I know my grandmother’s younger sister is the one that was most like their mother, both in looks and personality.
My mother’s-father’s-mother… oh boy do I remember her! She died in her 90s when I was already in college (her youngest daughter died at 12 of smallpox, the middle one at 92 of “old age complications”, my grandfather is 94 and medically looks more like 75sh). I remember her deaf as a brickwall, stiff as a master sergeant and imposing like a military parade…
My nephews have met three great-grandparents; he’s now 3yo (his sister is 3mo), my maternal grandparents are 95 and 94 and still kicking hard. He has another greatgrandmother but that one has had severe Alzheimer’s for more than ten years 
so not so much to remember there. One of the few things that still wake the old woman up is the sight of a baby (she had 8); when the little one is around, Grandma Maria doesn’t want to go to bed as long as the baby is awake. She wanted to hold her but her daughter and granddaughter were afraid to let her; they did put the baby in her arms for a while but without letting go.
Nope - not by a long shot… and both of my grandfathers were also gone before I was born.
The good news is that my daughter had living three great-grandparents when she was born 12 years ago (all on her mom’s side, natch), one of whom is 93 now and still living at home.
My great grandparents, listed as couples by the number of years they died before I was born:
22 & 35 (at ages 61 and 44)
33 & 30 (at ages 50 and 56)
25 & 34 (at ages 70 and 54)
31 & ?? (at ages 59 and ??) (I have yet to determine what happened to my mom’s maternal grandmother)
So, on the average my great-grandparents died exactly 30 years before I was born.:eek: And I’m the firstborn of my family, and was born when my folks were 28 and 26, respectively. So, for my little bro Lawoot, the average is 35 years before he was born.
I never even got to know four of my five grandparents. My mother’s father was gone before she was married, my father’s parents and Mom’s stepfather were all dead by the time I was four or five. I think the great-grandparents were gone long before that.
But my parents were a bit older than average when they married, so that’s not too surprising.
One great-grandmother died when I was about 10. I have a very vague memory of meeting some guy one time as a very small child; I worked it out later in life that he must have been a great-grandfather.
I knew my paternal great-grandmother. She was off the boat from Russia, barely spoke English, and lived with my grandparents. She died when I was 20 or so.
I also knew my great-great-aunt, who raised my grandmother and great-aunt. She was in her 80s when I was little and she scared the hell out of me.
My son, on the other hand, is fortunate to have known three out of four of his great-grands. My grandmother is still living, and they’ve got a good relationship. Airman’s maternal grandfather is still living, as well. Both of Airman’s grandmothers died within the last few years, so the sprog got to spend some time with both. He doesn’t really remember one of them, and I’m sure memories of the other will fade over time.
Both Airman and I have heard the family stories over the years. This past Thanksgiving, I made it a point to show the sprog some of the family pictures so he can see what the rest of his family looked like.
Now I’ve got to call my grandmother.
Robin
Yes, I was very lucky to have known my great-grandmother Esther who was born in 1891 in Sweden, and immigrated to the US in 1912. She lived to be 103, and died when I was 16. I really regret that I didn’t know her better though. As a child and a young teen, I never thought to sit down and talk to her about the details of her life, which are now lost to time… such as questions about growing up in Sweden, and what it was like to immigrate by herself to the US at age 21, and how she met my great-grandfather, and what was he like, etc… What’s pretty cool is that I have found the ship’s passenger manifest with her name on it from when she arrived in New York in 1912. I have also found her family in the 1900 Swedish census.
Esther showed a very special interest in me, which I think is because I was a girl. Her first-born was a girl named Viola who died at age 3. Her second and only other child was my grandfather, and he had 3 boys (one of which is my dad). I was the only female grandchild or great-grandchild for her, and I think she really missed having a girl, due to losing her daughter at such a young age. I remember she had a little snapshot of Viola in a frame, and used to show it to me all the time, saying “this is my little girl, Viola, who is in heaven…” I don’t know what happened to that photo… I wish I had it so that someone still living could remember her, and how much her mother loved her. My great-grandmother used to send me letters when I was growing up and I have saved them all.
That great-grandmother who died when I was about 10. I just remembered she used to give me pennies, calling them “coppers.” “Here’s a copper for you,” she’d say, or something like that. Born and raised in the Ozark Mountains, she was a dead ringer for Granny Clampett.