Paranormal Factor

When I was about ten, I lived in an apartment in Michigan. My grandmother Wanda had just died, and I was pretty upset about it. My mother was devestated, we had already lost another family member (an aunt) just prior to that. She was actually on the phone with my great grandmother, her grandmother before I went to sleep. I went to bed and began to dream.

In my dream, there was a large white room and many carnations. There was a white casket, and it was slowly going into a furnace. I watched as the casket went into the furnace and began to burn.

There were so many flowers in the room in funeral arrangements. I woke up crying and was startled by the smell of carnations. There were no flowers in the house at that time. The next day, we got the news that my great grandmother had died and she was to be cremated in California. Her ashes reside with my uncle at this time.

My great grandmother was quite a character. She was Polish, and she had a large flowery sort of handwriting. I know this because she wrote me often. I met her only once, and found her to be somewhat of a firey sort of person.

My mother had told me that at times she terrorized her when she was a child. I know a bit more about her now, I have found some interesting things about her on the Internet. I knew that she lived in Palm Springs, but what I did not know was that she was actually the assistant to Fay Bainter.

Fay Bainter was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She is the aunt of actress Dorothy Burgess and sister-in-law to actress Grace Burgess. She quickly achieved success, and in 1938 she became the very first performer nominated for both the Oscar for Best Actress, for White Banners, and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, for Jezebel, winning for the latter. Since then, only nine other actors have won dual nominations in a single year. She was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Children’s Hour. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. Fay Bainter died from pneumonia at the age of 75. You can find out more about Fay Bainter here.

I find my Grandmother Carol to be fascinating in that many of the pictures she sent to me of herself had her posing in some glamorous way. It comes as no surprise she had Hollywood connections. I am sure that when she left this world, she wanted me to know it.

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