I know most of you don't know Virginia or Gramma Jenny as she was called in our reenacting group, but she died today.  This was a spritely old lady who could have been anywhere  from 65 to 80 years young; I never really knew.  She played the role of a camp follower in our reenacting company.  Before anybody gets the wrong idea, there were lots of different kinds of camp follower.  Some were prostitutes but a lot more were spouses or sweethearts of soldiers, people trying to make a living, or in her case, a mother following a "son".

Her grandaughter was struggling with some issues that many teenagers struggle with and got interested in reenacting, playing the role of a young lady who dressed as a young man and ran off to join the Army.  Gramma Jenny saw this as a way to help her grandaughter and became very involved, providing transportation, food, and loving support for her grandaughter.  In the process she adopted us all.  Her grandaughter turned into a fine young woman, no small thanks to a grandmother's loving support and we all gained a freind.

Just about every kid in the WCWA snitched cookies from her cookie jar, drank her lemonade, listened to her stories, and played with her dog.  When my wife got a case of heat exhaustion at a particularly hot reenactment, it was Gramma Jenny who watched her, forced her to drink water she didn't want, eat salted peanuts she didn't want, and kept her company while she got better.  All of us shared in the period desserts she brought and many of the young men and women who were in college or high school and a bit shy of funds could always count on a bowl of stew or fresh biscuits from Gramma Jenny to help make ends meet and continue their hobby.

Every morning, Rick, my partner in crime, would wake up at 5:00 am (he is a career Army enlisted man and likes it) and make her coffee.  In return, he got some homemade sweet and company while they watched the camp wake up together.  When Rick was mobilized to go fight in Iraq, Gramma Jenny stored his reenacting stuff at her house and transported it to the site so Rick's kids could still reenact. 

Virginia Smalley never won any great awards for what she did and few people outside her family and the 15th Alabama Company G will ever know she was here, but for those who knew her, there is going to be a hole in our hearts that will be hard to fill.  Gramma Jenny, I am glad to have known you!