Hello, World Out There

I wrote this preface for the biography of my grandma, Ethel Burnett. She began one of her recorded interviews with, "Hello, World Out There," and I thought it was the perfect title for her book.

Here I am as a baby, in my grandma's arms, in the front yard of our country home. You can also see my mom and five of my siblings.

It has been said that a grandma holds your hand for a while, but your heart forever. My siblings and I agree! Our grandma, Ethel Burnett, was delightful! She stood about 5 feet tall and was very “put together” with her neatly coiffed hair, cat eye glasses, and stylish clothes. She almost always wore a dress. Her hands were usually busy with her latest sewing or crocheting project, and she loved to sit and visit.

Grandma was a pleasant, cheerful, spunky woman who had an amazing memory and quite a knack for storytelling. She told her stories with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye, almost always finding humor in the tale. At a particularly funny part, she’d raise her arms above her head, then slap her hands down onto her knees with joy. When Lisa asked Grandma how she could remember the stories so well, Grandma replied, “I can see the picture in my mind.” And she could! As Grandma told a story in her southern accent, she often looked “over yonder,” and replayed the event in her mind, complete with all the details about what people were wearing, the color of their hair and eyes, what they ate, and what was said. She was a wonder.

We all remember how special Grandma made us feel. Whenever we saw her, she met us with a huge smile, open arms, and a squeal of delight. She kept herself busy, but “things” were never more important to her than people. We sure loved her!

Some of us spent more time with a younger Ethel in Texas in the 1960s, when we lived in Houston and she lived in Raymondville. After we moved to Utah in 1969, Grandma visited us as often as she could, and occasionally stayed for a whole month. She fit right in with the family, and did whatever we were doing.

We all have memories of Grandma from the 1980s and 1990s, when she lived with Lemuel and Connie in Utah. By then her hair was smoky gray and her back was hunched. She used a cane, but her gnarled, arthritic hands were still sewing beautiful things. She took time to show us the latest quilt she was working on or the flowers she was tending. And as always, she was happy to sit and visit. We sat with her on the front porch swing and waited for the cats who came around whenever she was near, knowing she was good for some petting and scratching.

We loved hearing stories about Grandma’s childhood, a time and place we could only imagine. In one of her later interviews, Grandma exclaimed, “Hello, world out there. You are quite different now to what you was when I was a little girl.” Quite different, indeed! Grandma was born in 1906 in Oklahoma and lived almost a full century. Consequently, many monumental changes occurred throughout her lifetime. Imagine her astonishment as she experienced the wonders of electricity, plumbing, telephone, radio, and TV in her home for the first time. She went from traveling no more than a few miles by horse and buggy, to flying in an airplane to visit her son, Charles, in Hawaii. The medical care in her youth (which was performed by family members, or a doctor who had to be “fetched” from town eight miles away) evolved to convenient and sophisticated treatment by highly skilled doctors and hospital staff.

Despite all the changes over the decades, Grandma still loved sending and receiving handwritten letters, and never used a computer or a cell phone. She did all her sewing by hand! And no matter what transitions took place in the world around her, Jesus was with her throughout her life. She had absolute peace and confidence in her relationship with Him.

We wrote Grandma’s stories like she told them. We invite you to sit back and take your time as you read. You’ll hear her thick southern drawl as she tells stories of her loving family, funny events that “tickled” her, sad times of loss and loneliness, and moments that shaped the person she became. You’ll go back in time to a simpler, quieter, slower life as you learn about a truly remarkable woman: our grandma, Ethel.