The Wisdom of Older Women

I love to seek out the wisdom of the older generation.  They've come from a simpler time and have seen many changes over the course of their long lives. They're like living history books. A few of these wise women I've met through my reading are:

TESSIE AND PEARLIE 
by Joy Horowitz 
          I've never known any bubbes (Jewish grandmothers), but these two make me wish I did. Tessie and Pearlie were both in their 90s when their granddaughter, a journalist, decided to write the story of their lives. Through her visits and interviews with them, old family photos, and letters saved over the decades, Joy came to know much about her family's history and heritage. In this book, she shares the wisdom of her bubbes, as well as a few favorite family recipes, with the world.
          I wouldn't call this a lighthearted book. Both bubbes were preoccupied with getting old and dying (and who wouldn't be, at age 90?). But love of family seemed to be the lifeblood that kept them going, and their answers to their granddaughter's endless personal questions make for an often hilarious read.

ON MY OWN AT 107 
by Sarah L. Delany w/ Amy Hill Hearth
         With the miracles of modern medicine, more and more of our older folks are living to be centenarians. But I believe it must be truly rare for a couple of siblings to reach the age of 100 together.
          Bessie and Sadie Delany were aged 102 and 104, respectively, when they wrote their best-selling memoirs in HAVING OUR SAY: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (published in 1993). I enjoyed that book very much, as the sisters told about their long lives and the many historic moments they witnessed together. Even though they had plenty of chances to marry, the Delany sisters chose to live together all their lives as single women. They just didn't want to lose their independence and their careers (Sadie was a teacher and Bessie was a dentist) by getting married.
          Bessie passed away in 1995 at the age of 104, and this small, easily read book tells how older sister, Sadie, had to continue on without her. It's a beautiful tribute to a beloved sister who enjoyed gardening, as Bessie's garden continued to give Sadie comfort in the final years of her life. Sarah (Sadie) Delany lived to be 109.

THE DELANY SISTERS' BOOK OF EVERYDAY WISDOM
by Sarah & Elizabeth Delany w/ Amy Hill Hearth
          I've now read all three of the Delany books. In the first one, HAVING OUR SAY, the centenarian sisters tell the story of their long lives together. The last one, ON MY OWN AT 107, is Sister Sarah's tribute to Bessie after she passed on to Glory at the age of 104.
          I think I like this one, the second book, best. The sisters answer questions about how they lived to the ripe old age of 100, how things have changed in the world over the years, and what advice they can give for living a happy, fulfilled life. I was expecting this second book to be a sappy, commercial attempt to cash in on the success of the best-selling first book. But I really enjoyed their home-grown wisdom and old-timey expressions. They even included a few of their most prized recipes, including one for how to make your own soap and another for the production of rose (as in rose-petal) wine.