Still don't know about this one...
My grandmother was not a liar in any way, as far as I know- she was one of those formidable old women that scare the hell out of people, a force to be reckoned with, like Margaret Thatcher, Janet Reno, Susan B. Anthony and Catherine the Great rolled up into one. For a fact she was one of the earliest female MDs- I have her diploma on my wall at home. Definitely a remarkable woman by any estimation.

Grandma also happened to come from a family that lives practically forever- despite having eaten eggs every morning as far as I can remember, smoking for 50 years and drinking coffee with every meal, she lived to be 102. Unfortunately the last ten years or so of her life her mind deteriorated badly and she became increasingly senile- heartbreaking to see someone with a mind like that gradually lose it and become increasingly vegetative...

Anyway, when she was in her mid 90s and still had lucid times she related the following story to my sister:

During the 1930s my grandparents lived in NYC. Grandpa was a hotshot pathologist working for NYU at the time- he was one of the people who discovered the West Coxsackie virus- and Grandma was working as a General Practitioner. Apparently Grandma got involved with the orphanage there, and one of the people who helped direct the orphanage- although she had to do so quietly- was Eleanor Roosevelt. So Grandma used to spend a lot of time with Eleanor.

Apparently Eleanor was a terrible driver, but had a convertible and was very fond of driving around in it. One day she and Grandma were going somewhere and discussing something about the orphanage and Eleanor got very agitated and excited and kept turning to look at Grandma as she was talking- and ran off the road into a ditch. In the crash her front teeth were knocked out, so she had to get dentures- and as she had been terribly buck-toothed, the nice straight dentures improved her smile quite a lot.

Grandma concluded this story by commenting, "Well, I did my part for the Beautification of America."

My sister asked Mom if this was true, and Mom replied that she had never heard this story before, so later she asked Grandma about it, and Grandma repeated the whole story to her as well.

Since then I've found out that Eleanor was indeed involved with an orphanage in NYC, had had a car crash and gotten dentures, and that there was a passenger in the car at the time.

I don't know if it really was Grandma or not, but either way it still makes me grin...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 29 Nov 2007, 20:07, Reply)