My Wise Old Grandmother - Mary Agnes Kirk, page 1

My wise old grandmother is Mary Agnes Kirk, my
paternal grandmother, born on January 26, 1911,
in Austin, Texas, as Mary Agnes Lee. Early in her
life she was adopted and was given her adopted
parents’ name of Hartmann; they lived in
Floresville, Texas. She died at the age of 92 on
June 13, 2003, in Kingsville, Texas, where she is
buried alongside her husband, my dad, and my
oldest and youngest brothers.

My paternal grandfather, John Ancel Kirk, was
born on December 31, 1909, in San Antonio,
Texas. He died just 30 days short of age 70 on
December 1, 1978, in Kingsville. Ancel and
Mary Agnes married on October 23, 1929,
in San Antonio.

My adoption probably would not have occurred if
not for the effort that my wise old grandmother put
into it since, as I understand it, everyone else was
against her, at the age of 55, adopting a very
troubled youth of 11, notwithstanding blood
relations. Although we lived in Kingsville, my
Granddad worked in Taylor with the Missouri
Pacific Railroad, about 270 miles away. I’m sure
that was a factor in everyone being against me
being adopted. Even though Granddad came
home almost every weekend, it would be up to my
wise old grandmother to instill in me the qualities
that it takes to be a helping, contributing member
of society. She used both love and discipline to
succeed, a combination that, too often, is lacking
in today’s world. She not only explained the rules
for living in her house, but she explained the
consequences of breaking those rules, and she
never failed to persistently and consistently enforce
the rules and administer the punishment for
breaking those rules.

I only have one picture of my wise old grand-
mother, the one used on this web site. She didn't
like getting her picture taken, possibly because it
took away from whatever she was doing—
gardening, cooking, feeding the animals, perhaps
even dealing with me after she had adopted me.

I learned many things from my wise old grand-
mother, foremost of which was a love of animals
and gardening—a love of nature. As she often told
me, “All creatures are God’s creatures.” We were
regularly adopting animals from the alley behind
our home, animals that usually were abandoned or
injured, or neglected by our neighbors. We had
cats, dogs, snakes, chickens, turtles, owls—any
wildlife that stopped by had a home and good
food (just like me!). We even had a monkey that
strayed into our yard from somewhere, but six
months later we were forced to let animal handlers
from the San Antonio Zoo trap it and take it away.

Something else my wise old grandmother taught
me was how to start, develop, and run a business.
Although she gave me a weekly allowance, she
was more interested in seeing me succeed. She
helped me take advantage of the fact that I played
the piano and loved to spend time at the library
and reading. One day Granddad brought home an
old 1906 Underwood manual typewriter, and
before long I was typing 60 words a minute. I
loved to go the library at Texas A&I University
(now Texas A&M University at Kingsville) and
find trivia that was interesting to me. I would copy
it down, and then go home to type up a list to put
in my research notebook. I guess I was creating a
World Almanac of my own.

When summer came, my friends were mowing
lawns and pulling weeds. I, on the other hand, was
researching, writing, and typing papers for students
at Texas A&I University—my first business! I
used my typing skills to earn money during junior
high and high school. At Texas A&M University
I started a typing/editing/word processing business
called “Just Your Type,” the sexual connotations
of which were not lost on college students. When
I left Texas A&M in May 1977 (three hours short
of a degree, which I got in December 1978), I
continued to rely on my typing and writing skills,
and took “Just Your Type” to Houston before
returning it to College Station in 1983. When I
moved to San Diego, California, in 1993, I took
the company with me, changing the name to
“Naked Words” in 1999. I closed the business
shortly after starting my home inspection business
in October 2001.

Decades after my wise old grandmother got me
started with my first business, I still rely heavily on
my English and word processing skills in my home
inspection and marketing businesses, although it is
easier in today’s world with computers.