Her name was Etta, but many knew her as Ettie or Grandma JENNINGS. She was the wife of Robert Lee JENNINGS and the mother of ten children and grandmother to many.

She was a kind and gentle woman whose thoughts were often for others. In the early 30's although no one had much of anything and the cupboards were often pretty bare, she always made do and never complained.

The greatest legacy she left for me was her strong faith. This brave woman smiled when others would have cried,a nd at no time did she ever have an unkind word for her fellow man.

Her one great joy was her old battery radio turned to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. She could sing along with the best of 'em.

Grandma JENNINGS was called home to rest in the the late 50's at the nursing home north of Mount Ayr. She was a tribute to Maloy, and everyone who knew her. Of course I could be partial. She was my Grandma JENNINGS.

~ Submitted by Phyllis Jennings Ballenger

The committee gratefully acknowledges this tribute accompanied by a generous $100 donation in Mrs. JENNINGS' name from Phyllis and her husband, Don.

A special thank you to Mildred SHAY -- for her generous financial contribution, her interest in our project, and the patient perusal of century-old newspapers and documents that reveal so much of "the way it was."

SOURCE: Maloy, Iowa Centennial History: 1887 - 1987 p. 208. 1987.

Courtesy of Mount Ayr Public Library

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2011