It was even more wonderful especially for the main reason we all gathered in the first place which was in celebration of a phenomenal matriarch of our family. Catherine Andrew is the 2nd eldest of my grandmother's siblings, my great aunt. I have always known her to be a bigger than life kind of character. When we were children, I use to remark at how big she physically was and in adulthood, I know that I was not only referring to her stature. For my whole life it seems, she's lived on Oak Street in Hempstead Long Island. My parents' held their wedding reception at that house and I believe my father lived there just after he graduated from Howard and before he was married in 1965. Much of what I know about her life has been told to me. Born in British Guyana, she grew up in the States with two other siblings while my grandmother grew up in Guyana. She has seven children - 1 daughter and 6 boys. She was married to Albert, a longshoreman who clearly had a lot of adventures based on the stories he told when he was alive. I was always intrigued by their marriage and what kind of character I made him up to be.
Her house was always a welcoming house, symbolized by the number of children and young adults she provided refuge to through foster parenting. Her life has been by no means perfect and seemingly she has managed many of life's challenges with the grace befitting of the title ELDER. One of her sons called her his hero on Saturday. The energy she emits is still powerful even at 90.
I remember when we were little, she would always call you 'baby doll' or 'puddin' or 'darling' when she called you. It always made me feel special when she did that. I heard a story from one of my students who told me the reaction of one of her friends to my calling them "darling". She said her friend ran up to her and said, "OMG, Miss Coddett just called me darling!" She replied, "she says that to everyone." It was communicated that the student felt special the same way I use to when Aunt Catherine said it to me.
Although a lifelong battle with diabetes has reduced her large frame to one that is frail, her vision nearly gone, she is still larger than life. She's still an inspiration for what it means to be woman and a person full of personality. She's what it means to be family. A Jehovah Witness by faith meant that she wasn't celebrating it, WE were! Happy Birthday Aunt Catherine
