My grandmother, Verna Boeve, taught me to value work done in the home supporting a family and a community. She supported my dad and his eight siblings as a single mother, and before her husband died, by supporting their family’s work on a farm in Michigan. The work Grandma did every day involved cooking for her family and, on Sundays, for church functions. Up until the end of her life she was still baking pies and other delicious foods for me and my cousins when we came to visit. The work she did involved caring for me and my family and keeping our large family together throughout many changes.
When she died three years ago, we all came back to Holland, Michigan, for her funeral. The whole family spent the following day working together, cleaning up the house she’d lived in for as long as I was alive. While cleaning out the basement, my cousin Kim found a journal Grandma had kept for dozens of years. I opened it and discovered that each journal entry was addressed in the form of a letter to me. She described what she thought, felt, questions she had, and hopes she had for my future. And she wrote a lot about work. On January 4, 1987, she wrote, “It blew, stormed all day but I stayed busy with the tapes and paid the school—Tried to knit a baby shawl…” On January 23, 1996, she wrote about the work of her parents: “They had an 80 acre farm. Dad was Highway Commissioner for many years and did threshing of grain for neighboring farms. Mother was a mild tempered lady and worked very, very hard—she scrubbed clothes on a wash board and made 5 meals a day. 6-9-12-3-6, plus had time to mother us. I think she could bake the best bread in the world.”
By honoring workers this labor day, I honor Verna Boeve and how she shaped my life.
May Boeve is the Executive Director of 350.org and 350 Action Fund.
Photo of Verna Boeve’s Journal for her Granddaughter, May Boeve (courtesy of the author).
