My "Grand" Mother Tutu

I thought it would be a fun post for Mother's day to write about my Mother's Mother, my grand mother.  I mentioned here that my Grandmother was a pilot that flew with Amelia Earheart. Here is a little more information on the unbelievable life she led.  First of all we NEVER called her Grandma or Grandmother, I think she would have killed us. We called her Tutu which is Hawaiian for Grandma.  

She was good friends with Amelia Earhart as they were both pilots and there were not that many women pilots at the time. Tutu and Amelia were both involved in the 99ers which was an organization for the 1st 99 women pilots. All 99 women wore matching bracelets (with the 99ers logo) and the bracelets held photos inside.

Tutu used to tell the story about when Amelia disappeared and this is basically what she said happened.  After Amelia had not returned from her last flight and it was believed she was not going to return, Amelia's Mother called my Grandmother Nelda to come over to the house and help her go through Amelia's things. When they opened her Amelia's trunk, her bracelet and scarf we on the top. Amelia's Mother was shocked and said to my Grandmother "She must have known she was not returning, she ALWAYS flew with these."

Having heard that story from Tutu many times, and hearing her tell that she thought there was a cover up for what really happened, so I found it really interesting when I read this quote on the Amelia Earhart web site ( here) it says:

"Earhart always carried her lucky bracelet and scarf with her on long-distance flights, but left them with her Mother when she took her last flight around the world. Now the bracelet and scarf are reverently displayed at the museum alongside Earhart's pilot's license, navigation charts and voice and video recordings. "

Here is a photo of Tutu's 99er's bracelet
And this is the inside. On the left bottom is Tutu and the other 3 are the photos of her children. My Mom is the baby on the right bottom.

She had a busy life outside of flying. 

She was a registered nurse and flew medical missions during the war. However after the war she lost her nurses license for her unacceptable behavior when she flew underneath the Golden gate bridge upside down. I can't believe they didn't take away her pilots license!

Overall she was married 6 times, twice to my Grandfather Bud. He was a super intresting guy you can read about him here. When she was older, her last marriage was to a nice guy named Bob, really the Grandpa that I remember. They lived at Lake Arrowhead, but drove all around in this motor-home. I have never seen a motor-home like it since. Both sides were painted with a race car that had colored plumes of smoke coming off the wheels and said VAROOM! The license plate said LOVEIN. The seats were leopard skin and there was a crystal chandelier hanging over the table. She always had a can of roasted salted almonds near by and a rum and coke. She had two Yorkshire terrier dogs (one was blind) that ran back an forth in the front window of the motor home that my Father referred to as "the cockroaches".

This photo is THE motor-home parked up at Lake Arrowhead. Can you believe that I used have snowball fights on this balcony with that old rickety unsafe railing? My uncle now owns this home (with iron railings now) and this is where we go every 4th of July and to enjoy the snow in winter.

My most memorable trip in this psychedelic motor-home 

One day she decided to drive all the cousins down to Escondido, San Diego to show us where our familys ranch used to be. It was a long drive and I was probably about 6 and my Sister Tiffany was 9. One of my greatest joys was bugging her and it kept me entertained for most of the trip... until Tutu had had enough. Tutu said "I have been asking you to stop, but I guess you need a spanking to hear me" then she proceeded to spank me. I was very stubborn and tried to act like it didn't hurt.  Later on the way home Tutu said to me "You know, you are the only grandchild that I have had to spank!" and I replied "Did you know, you are the only Grandmother that has spanked me?"- She did not find it funny at the time, but retold the story often in later years.