Mary Lopez, president of Galveston Grandmother Club No. 277, tries potluck dishes at the monthly meeting. Each chapter has its own personality, but a similar mission, to support charitable projects and make the most of their grandmother years.
Mary Lopez and Mollie Jamison have 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren between them, but their granny skills extend much further. The women lead Grandmother Clubs in Galveston County, raising funds for children’s cancer research, encouraging adopted grandchildren, creating craft gifts and throwing in a bit of bingo for fun.
It’s all part of a national program creating a fellowship and mission for grandmothers.
“We enjoy the friendships, the caring for others and for each other,” Jamison, a retired registered nurse, said. “It’s a wonderful caring group of ladies.”
Jamison, 63, leads the Santa Fe Crafty Grannies Club No. 1033. The group of 13 women, ranging in age from 50 to 92, meet monthly at Golden Corral in Galveston.
For Meals on Wheels clients, they fashion 65 holiday decorations. One club member crochets lap robes for the elderly. They assemble Easter baskets for Children’s Center clients.
The women from Friendswood, Santa Fe, Dickinson, Texas City and Galveston have adopted the students of the Galveston Alternative School, providing refreshments and decorations for celebrations, as well as school supplies.
The grandmothers also have adopted a family in Hitchcock, taking birthday cakes and gifts to the children, paying for school supplies and holiday meal needs.
“You receive back so much just by doing this,” Jamison said.
For their three adopted grandchildren, as well as club members, the women decorate occasion cards by hand, each adding a note.
“It’s that little extra to make someone feel better,” Jamison said. “To make someone else feel better, that’s what it’s all about.”
Jamison’s mother and grandmother were both members of the Galveston Grandmother Club No. 277.
That group now meets at the McGuire-Dent Recreation Center monthly for meals, fundraising and bingo.
“I enjoy being around the ladies and calling the bingo,” Lopez, 75, who leads the group, said. “It’s just really good fellowship.”
The crew of 11 grandmothers ranging in age from 65 to the late 80s play for canned goods or homemade cakes in games that also raise funds for children’s cancer research.
“It’s something you look forward to each month,” Frances Sullivan, 76, said.
Sullivan has six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
“We talk about children. We don’t bring our grandchildren to the meetings because if everybody brought their grandchild, guess what, we wouldn’t have any kind of a meeting. They would be the center of attraction; we all know that.”
The National Federation of Grandmother Clubs of America was chartered in 1938 in Chicago, Ill., to help grandmothers fill their idle time. Membership now numbers more than 1,000, with chapters across the country.
Each chapter has its own personality, but a similar mission, to support charitable projects and make the most of their grandmother years.
“You get out of it what you put in it,” Sullivan said.
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At A Glance
• National Federation of Grandmother Clubs of American, nationalgrandmotherclubs.com.
• Club No. 277, Galveston Grandmother Club, contact Mary Lopez, 409-765-7068, meets third Thursday of the month at noon at McGuire-Dent Recreation Center, 2222 28th St., Galveston.
• Club No. 1033, Santa Fe Crafty Grannies Club, contact Mollie Jamison, 409-925-5524 or Nell Marschner, 409-765-7310, meets fourth Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at Golden Corral in Galveston, 6200 Seawall Blvd., with the December meeting set for Dec. 15 because of the holidays.
• CURE Childhood Cancer research and support program supported by National Federation Grandmother Clubs, curechildhoodcancer.org.
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Details To Note
The Santa Fe Crafty Grannies will have a bake sale Monday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Big Chief in Santa Fe. The group will be selling pies, cupcakes, forgotten cookies, potato chip cookies, pralines, Bundt cakes and other desserts.
