Grandma and Chevy Keep Going and Going

Published February 18,1988. May 18 will be another birthday for Alice Day of American Fork. She will be 87. In our house she is not called Alice Day by us or our children. She is simply called “Grandma” because she is Susan’s mother.

Grandma Day is getting along quite well. Her arthritis is “acting up” as she says. When it does, Grandma Day can predict a storm well ahead of the forecasters. She claims an incoming storm makes her arthritis worse. She doesn’t move quite as quickly as she used to. It takes a little more time for her to get up out of her favorite chair in her front room. But she still gets up.

Most of the time she stays alone in her American Fork home. On occasion she will come over and visit for a few days. But then she gets restless and wants to go home. She wants to see what came in the mail or make sure she is there when her sister, Aunt Metz, or her brother, Uncle Ernie, come by to visit.

Grandma Day is an excellent seamstress and loves to crochet. Last week when our children were out of school. Grandma Day came over and helped them tie a quilt.

We make regular trips to the drug store in American Fork to get the pills she needs to ease the pain she often experiences. Whenever anyone asks how she is doing, Grandma Day smiles and simply says, “I’m doing OK . . . considering the alternatives.” Those who stop to visit her will find her unusually pleasant.

When Grandma Day needs something at the store we try to get it for her. She quit driving a few years ago when her legs started giving her some trouble. In 1970 she bought a green, four-door Chevrolet Nova. She drove it for nearly 15 years and put 50,000 miles on it. In 1985 it was in good shape, particularly for a 15-year-old car. When her oldest grandson, and our oldest son, Doug turned 16 and got his driver’s license, she let him drive the car . . . a lot.

The following year, Doug drove Grandma’s 1970 Chevy to Orem High School almost every day. He even got a parking sticker for it from the school. Then after school he would drive to American Fork to see Grandma. He loved Grandma Day and liked driving her Chevy around town.

After Doug went on his mission, Grandma Day said we might as well keep the Chevy at our house, since she didn’t feel she could drive it anymore. Now, two years later, it has a few more miles on it. It’s starting to rust in a place or two. And the green paint is starting to fade. But the amazing thing is that Grandma’s Chevy keeps going and going.

It needs a little maintenance now and then, as all cars do regardless of age. We just put a new set of tires on the car. No one really knows how long it will last. Whenever Grandma comes over to our house she asks how “Old Betsy” is doing. That’s what she calls her car. We say “fine,” and Grandma smiles.

Deep down I think the car means something to her. More than transportation, it reminds Grandma Day of the past and all the places they went together.

Both Grandma and her Chevy are getting older. That is no secret. But she and her car seem to keep going and going. Both require a little care now and then. Not a whole lot, but some. And we try to provide it for both. The Chevy is about due for a tune-up. Maybe we’ll try to do it next week—about the time that Grandma goes to the doctor in American Fork for her periodic checkup.

And who knows, with a little care and attention, both Grandma Day and her Chevy may be around for a long, long time.