Aunt Merce

Don's Aunt Merce is another treasure in our family tree. Aunt Merce is a strong, sharp, independent woman whose memory is sharp as a tack. And up until a series of small strokes impacted her ability to talk last year, Aunt Merce would share stories about her life and her hometown of Sunnyvale with astounding accuracy. I love hearing about the history of people and places. I find it fascinating to learn how things 'used to be' and Aunt Merce is great at filling us in about Sunnyvale and the surrounding South Bay areas. When Aunt Merce shares her stories I feel transported back in time. Through her stories, I see the streets, buildings and orchards as they did when she was young. I have a good sense of what working in the canneries was like or what is was like at the Santa Cruz boardwalk half a century ago. 

Aunt Merce is also a treasure chest of family memories. Don is the youngest of 5 and he does not know, or remember, some of the details of his families life. Through Aunt Merce, I have learned some of what Don was like as baby, things about his mother, grandmother and how life was when the family moved to the many different places they called home (Spokane, Newark Ohio, Baton Rouge, Argentina, and Jamaica.)

This year, dear Aunt Merce will celebrate her 90th birthday.

Tia Merce was born Modesta Sanchez and lives in the same house she was born in.  It is rare that a home stays within a family unit let alone a house one was born in. And Aunt Merce's home has even more meaning because her father built after settling in Sunnyvale after migrating with his wife from Spain. Aunt Merce  is the younger sister of Don's mother, Josephine (or Jo) and old sister to Fran. Aunt Merce never married. She instead choose to stay with her parents and working at the Post Office where she retired after forty years.

Whenever we visit, we always leave with some of Aunt Merce's lemons. The tree was planted in front of the house many, many moons ago and have been producing juicy Myers lemons for decades. We use those lemons to make our veggies and fish taste all the better. I am not sure if it's because of the lemons or because they come from Aunt Merce. Probably a combination of the two but knowing that they come from her yard does make a difference!

Don and I try to bring the girls down to see their great aunt as much as we can. Our visits are shorter than longer due to their age and tolerance for being in a house that is not set up for little people. But I want them to be in her presence as much as they can. She won't be around forever and I want them to enjoy their Tia as much as possible. I want some of Aunt Merce to rub off on them. Havana's second middle name is after Aunt Merce (Modesta) as part of our attempts to honor this remarkable woman.



Aunt Merce is generous, kind, loving and strong.  She is well loved by her nieces and nephews, all whom treat her the warmth and respect she so deserves. In our society, where we often toss the elderly aside, Don's aunt gets frequent visits and care from her kin. They look out for her, take care of her and spend time with her. Because they love her dearly. And what's not to love. Aunt Merce truly is one of a kind.

                    


February 2011



February 2011

Aunt Merce's Lemons