My very own Fairy Godmother

Growing up, I loved the fact that Cinderella had a Fairy Godmother. I really related to that, because I had my own. She didn’t make a dress out of straw or carriages out of pumpkins, but she made my life a fairy-tale in so many ways.

Gramma Georgeanna was my mom’s best friend. They did everything together. I never remember a time with Gramma that there wasn’t laughing involved.

I ate turnips at her house for the very first (and probably last) time. She also taught me to make caramel from a can of Eagle Brand condensed milk, cooked in the can in a pan of boiling water. Open the can and spoon it right into your mouth. One night at dinner at her house, she had a bottle of bubbly (I can’t remember if it was actually champagne or not). We spent the entire evening laughing hysterically as, over and over again; Clarence put the cork into the bottle, shook it up and waited for the cork to pop – right into the ceiling. I think when she sold the house the cork marks were still on the ceiling of the dining room.

I spent hours doing jigsaw puzzles with her. And “junk” jewelry? The woman had drawer-full’s. And she never hesitated to let me play.

Gramma was going to Hawaii in 1973 and my mom made her a pair of turquoise blue polyester “Bermuda” shorts; except, they were too short to be “Bermuda” length. My dad helpfully suggested that mom add extra length with a row of wide red lace. My mother did and the shorts went to Hawaii (this picture was taken after she returned I think; note the Hawaiian shirt).

Gramma never to my memory ever had her hands not completely covered in rings; beautiful, jewel-encrusted (real or not) rings. She wore caftans and mu-mu’s and wide-legged pants and loud print tops. She and my mother scoured clearance racks and bought purses and junk jewelry in bulk so there was always plenty of fun things to share. One birthday party for me, she and my mom had a purse and a ring or two for each of my friends. They had a box of each and my friends got to pick whatever they wanted.

We visited Kennewick, WA a few years ago – the last physical time I saw Gramma. Her granddaughter, Cyndi lives there and we traveled east to spend the day. James and Blake and Russ and I had a fantastic time. We fed ducks at a park and laughed and reminisced about everything. Gramma was in her 80’s by then and it never slowed her down a bit.

A few years earlier, when James was just a few months old, Gramma, her grandson, Don (with wife Robin) and I met at Spaghetti Factory in Seattle. Don and Robin have a son, Mitchell about the same age as James.

I can never remember a time when Gramma wasn’t ready to go do something: anything, anywhere, anytime. It makes me glad, in a way, that I didn’t see her in her last years. She was always a woman on the go. She never complained about hammer toes or arthritis or any other ailments – she just packed up and went.

Shortly after I met Russ, Gramma and Mom made a trip up from California to Washington on their way up to Alaska. She had a chance to meet Brie (I think Jessica, too) and my mother-in-law, Pat. We went to Ivar’s and saw the touristy sites I’m sure she’d seen before. It means so much to me that she was able to meet all of my children in one way or another throughout the years.

Mom and I visited her in Chula Vista, CA, one summer. She drove us across the border (before you needed passports) to Tijuana. She bought me a beautiful glass what-not case I had up until a few years ago. It was a day of shopping, fun and laughter. We spent a day in “Old Town” (San Diego) once too. I took a liking to some Native American Prints. She and my mom bought the entire set and gave them to me as a birthday present that year.

Gramma was never afraid to DO anything. She outlived three husbands and never thought twice about moving across the country or the ocean to help her sons or grandchildren. I have no idea how many places she lived or traveled to in her lifetime, but I know she took fun with her wherever she went.

In some ways I miss her more than my mother. If I could grow old like Gramma, I wouldn’t mind it so much. Rest in peace, Gramma. I hope there are champagne corks in heaven.



Her son, Charles, sent me this obituary today, May 26, 2010:

Georganna Leonard, 97, passed quietly on May 26, 2010 at Chateau Living Center in Kenner, LA.



Georganna was born Georganna Baker at a farm 35 miles East of Pueblo, Colorado on November 2, 1912 to George Earl and Angeline Ann Baker. Georganna lived a very well traveled and colorful life. She is remembered as a woman who loved square dancing, dressing up for evenings out, and traveling the world with friends, but was just as comfortable swinging a sledgehammer when helping her boys build their homes.

Georganna graduated from Sylvania City (Ohio) high school in 1930. She married Charles Cross in 1935 and, after their honeymoon to Niagara Falls, they resided in Toledo, Ohio. She had two sons, and raised them in California while Charles served in the Navy during WWII. After her divorce in 1951, she worked as a secretary, a personal administrative assistant, and later became a licensed real estate agent.

She met and married George Laberdee in 1962 in Palm Springs, California but their happy marriage was cut short by his death in 1966. In 1969, Clarence Leonard squared danced his way into her life for many happy years in Chula Vista and Apple Valley, California. She was a 50-year member of The Order of Eastern Star.


Georganna is survived by her sons, Charles Robert Cross and Stanley Owen Cross (Barbara), grandchildren Carol Hunt (Tim), Jennifer Cross, Cynthia Rakowski, Don Cross (Robin), Kimberley Alonso (Joe), godchild Paige Roper Norman (Russ) and great-grandchildren Becky, Laura, and Sam Hunt, Robin Rakowski, Mitchell Cross, Chandler Cross, Brandon Alonso and Justin Alonso.

Georganna was pre-deceased by her spouses Charles O. Cross (2001), George Laberdee (1966), Clarence Leonard (1982), grandchild Charles Stanley Hamilton (1979).

As she wished, no memorial service will be held and her ashes will be scattered among the wildflowers in the high desert of California.