In Memory of My Grandmother, MaBelle
January 26, 1926 to June 18, 1996

My grandmother was one of
the most important people in my life.
I wish I would have told her that.
I wrote the following in my
English 101 class at college.


MaBelle and I

One rainy summer day in June 1996
my grandmother died, and I discovered myself.
We stood in the cold hospital room
watching my grandmother slowly pass away.
As I recall, that was the first time I had seen my father cry.
I stood next to my cousin, feeling my heart break into little pieces.
The pain I felt hurt so badly that I could not cry.
I remember standing there saying to myself,
"Please God do not let her die, I have so much to tell her."
Janet Ludwig Belle was not just anyone to me.
She was not only my grandmother but also my role model.
Everyone has a role model in their life and MaBelle was mine.
In my eyes she was perfect and could do no wrong.
The time had arrived for her to enter the golden gates of heaven
without me ever telling her that I looked up to her as my role model.
My grandmother was the most active woman I knew.
She graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University
with her Masters degree in Education.
This is one of the reasons that influenced me to attend Southeastern.
She taught math at Central Middle School.
When I had a math question, she always had the answer.
I wanted to be a teacher when I was little
and even thought about majoring in Education.
I would act grown up and play teacher all the time.
She loved children and helping others;
therefore, she taught Sunday School at her church.
She enjoyed being with her family and friends.
She was a member of the KKI sorority with her friends.
She was also an artist and loved cars.
She would sew and crochet, things I only wished I could do.
My grandmother painted in her spare time.
My grandmother and her twin sister had the same painting talent.
When my mother became pregnant with me,
my grandmother painted a mural of
Winnie the Pooh on a wall in my room.
It took up more than half of my wall on one side.
To this day I regret painting over it.
My favorite paintings were her Cajun swamp scenes.
She planned to paint me one but never had the chance.
My grandfather knew how much it meant to me,
so he gave me the one that hung in their living room.
As a young girl, I enjoyed drawing and for the longest time,
I wanted to be an artist like my grandmother.
My grandmother loved cars. The first car I remember her having
was a white camaro Z28 and traded it
for a maroon Z28 with T-tops.
Her last car was a red convertible with a
"MABELLE" personalized license plate.
My grandfather bought her a 1931 Model T car
which they drove occasionally and in parades.
Just like my grandmother, I love cars and
want a new one every two years.
My grandmother and grandfather had
the kind of marriage everyone dreams of.
Everything he did, he did for her and
everything she did, she did for him.
They both loved plants and flowers.
They planted flowers and plants throughout
the yard and around the pool.
He would buy her flowers every week for no reason.
They had the perfect marriage.
She passed away in June and that December
would have been their fiftieth anniversary.
In my eighteen years, I never saw them argue.
Now that she is in a better place,
he misses her more than anything.
Twice a week he brings fresh flowers to her grave.
I want to be like my grandmother
and find the perfect husband,
just like my grandfather.
When first diagnosed with cancer in 1992,
doctors gave her two years to live.
She never seemed to show the pain and never let it stop her.
In those two years they traveled all over the United States.
In fact, they did not tell the family she had two years left
until she out lived them.
In February 1996, the cancer came out of remission making her ill.
At this time she began to slowly fade away.
Her last days were spent in the hospital all drugged up.
The doctors then gave her two weeks,
and she struggled out one week and six days.
She died that rainy summer day, Tuesday, June 18, 1996
with the whole family standing by her side.
Her death made me realize that life must go on.
I should follow my dreams, reach for my goals,
and live my life for me, just like her.
I always went to church but would skip now and then.
Since her death I attend mass every Sunday.
This is when I decided to attend Southeastern University
with a major in Office Administration.
This also made me realize that friends come and go,
but your family will always be there for you.
I plan to use what I learned from my grandmother
and hope to have her qualities to be a
role model for someone.
I give all my credit to who I am to my role model,
my grandmother.

By: Tuesdai Belle
February 25, 1997

MaBelle & BB