Grandmere favored a simple car. Like lessons she taught me, she wanted it to last.
Paula Turnbull — my iconic, artistic, brilliant, storytelling and loving grandmother — went to be with the Lord on April 24.
She was less than four months shy of her 100th birthday, but at least this devout Catholic fittingly got to experience 100 Easters and Christmases. She celebrated those in her English homeland and Southern California, St. Louis, Atlanta and Denver.
My brother, Stephen, and I were fortunate Grandmere lived in Marietta during our formative years and most of our adulthood. While she did not teach us to drive, some adages and stories from her still resonate.
We should relish the lessons from our elders in the Greatest Generation who lived through the Great Depression era. Both she and our late grandfather (who passed in 2017) taught us the importance of vehicle upkeep. They had a late 1980s Honda Civic and an early ’90s Mazda 323, both hatchbacks. They kept those extraordinary autos forever.
That was a great lesson for our churn-and-burn generation.
Some 20 years into owning the Mazda, Grandmere sought my help in acquiring its replacement. Then 87-years-old, she sent me an email that began, “I am in need of a compact car, minimal bells and whistles …”
(She and my granddad, an aeronautical engineer, were both ahead of their time with technology).
But Grandmere wanted something simple to replace something simple. In retrospect, I should have recommended a few “bells and whistles.”
She did not want luxury and, admirably, did not want anything that would overwhelm and distract her behind the wheel. But some things that were considered extra in 2013 are standard now — and can make driving safer.
Blind spot alerts, lane-assist detection, front-impact warnings, rearview cameras and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto can help drivers avoid the avoidable. The later infotainment options also streamline hands-free phone use. But Grandmere would not be messing with her phone while driving, anyway.
She actually seemed to know her way around very well. While her latter driving years saw her doing what she could to steer clear of freeway driving, her awareness of the back roads taught me some things. She exuded more directional confidence than the average commuter of her generation.
And Grandmere also paid me a compliment that has stuck with me. I was taking her somewhere in my early driving years and she commented how I waited until the proper time to enter a left turn lane.
The law states drivers cannot enter over a dashed yellow line and into a turn lane more than 300 feet before they need to turn.
She had seen plenty of drivers go awry of that rule and took the time to point out something a young driver was doing right. Every time I encounter that situation, I think of her.
Grandmere did not do any driving in her late 90s as her health slowly declined. But while she needed convincing to move from her home to my aunt Helen and uncle Jeff’s outside of Denver, taking the car keys was not as difficult. Self-awareness is a key trait in all aspects of life.
We, Grandmere’s circle, learned so much from her generosity, humor and love for life. And, as drivers, we learned the importance of maintenance, confidence, and give and take. Godspeed.
Doug Turnbull covers the traffic/transportation beat for WXIA-TV (11Alive). His reports appear on the 11Alive Morning News from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and on 11Alive.com. Email Doug at dturnbull@11alive.com. Subscribe to the weekly “Gridlock Guy” newsletter for the column here.
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