Stories, lessons, and quips from my great grandmother Sally Geer Sandusky or as most people called her after about 1933, Mammaw. Born in 1889 in Denton, TX, she lived 99 years full of opinions, mischief, advice, and commentary.

On making sure she had her wig and lipstick on before receiving visitors or going out: “Once you lose your pride, you might as well be dead.”

On her age, “Only the good die young, I’m full of spite.”

About a famous actress who had been married 8 times, “She’s just a licensed whore.”

Often, as she held her black oblong TV hearing device away from her ear, “There’s too much kissing on TV.”

…which somehow I always connect with…

“There’s a lot of meanness in the world.”

To a young man studying meteorology, “Why do you want to be a liar?!” She was born before the US Weather Service was established and never came to trust a weatherman’s forecast.