Great

 The Generations Cafe challenge for the week was GREAT and my mind kept going back to Grandma Great aka Amelia Phelps, my paternal  Great Grandmother because she was the original owner of the Grandma Great table. I figure she bought the table around 1885 in Highwood, Illinois when she married Mr. Henricks. That makes the table 136 years old! The solid oak table with several leaves that get inserted in the middle when it's pulled apart seats 12 people easily. It is the table that my family gathers around at Thanksgiving. 

Over the years there have been attempts at refinishing. The picture shows that a couple of the leaves got lost and didn't make the refinishing job! There's some fancy woodwork at each end and the legs are on little wheels. 

When Grandma Great went to a nursing home and her household was broken up, my Dad got the table. All through my childhood this was the dining room table where my family celebrated birthdays and holidays. Many of my Mom's siblings shared meals with us at this table. 

I have to pause at this point because I do not remember when the table moved from my Mom's house to my daughter, Renee. I did not want the table...didn't fit in with my "mid-century classic" decorating style. (I had a 60" round white pedestal table with white pedestal chairs.) But Renee loves antique furniture so somewhere along the line the table moved from Illinois to California. Hopefully, Renee will chime in and help fill in the blanks. NOTE: Renee says that she was able to include the table in her move back to California from Wisconsin in 1988. 

Here's my 80th birthday party gathering. The far end is the Grandma Great Table.

Renee now has the table and it has been refinished and tightened up. It was getting rickety and would jiggle whenever someone put their elbows on the table. Renee's hubby, Tom, solved that problem with some glue and screws. It is now ready for another 100 years. The question is....who gets The Grandma Great Table next?



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