Love Letters

“I hope you come see us soon”.

We knew her as Nannie. She would visit us fairly often in Virginia Beach, ensconced in the living room with her afghan knitting, large hearing aid and cane. At bedtime we’d snuggle on either side of her for the next chapter of Mary Poppins or Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat. She wore plastic, pearl-bead necklaces and painted her tennis shoes with white shoe polish. Her name was Margaret Lynn Lewis Carruthers, and she was our mother’s mother.

Margaret Lynn Lewis was born July 26, 1902, in Charleston, West Virginia, to Colonel Charles Cameron Lewis, Jr., and Laura Payne. She was one of five children and the only daughter. Her brothers were Captain Charles Cameron Lewis III (b.1890), Andrew Payne Lewis (b.1893), Frank Payne Lewis (b.1896), and John Dickinson Lewis (b.1905).

At a young age she contracted polio, which affected her hearing and legs; however, vigorous exercise partly mitigated the residuals of the disease, and various hearing aids offset any hearing loss.

On October 22, 1925 she married Thomas Moore Carruthers. July 1, 1929, a little girl, Elizabeth Josephine, was born. Three years later on August 17 her sister, Laura, was added to the family.