Alexis Martin
Hour 3
English 2
Essay 1

A relative that I will never forget…

Jodi Marie Ross was an amazing woman! She was known as the first female contractor in the state of Missouri! My lovely grandmother had many jobs before becoming a female carpenter. She also worked as a florist for about six years but soon after that she started her own company ,whom is now run by her youngest daughter Jodi Dale, Ross Management! Jodi always helped a lot of people that had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Many of the people that worked for my Grandmother where people that had been standing on streets corners either soliciting or begging for money. The people who she helped the most were people that wouldn’t so much beg for money but they would ask for food. I remember when I was six, almost seven years old, my grandmother and I were heading home from her work on a Friday evening. We were leaving 52nd and Wabash and we stopped at the light right before Churches Chicken which had graffiti all over it and busted out windows. There was a guy standing on the corner who had the cutest little boy with him. He looked to be about three or four years old. The guy was holding up a sign saying “Food Please!!!! God forgive me for my sin!!” When my grandmother saw this she began to cry! She pulled her car over into the Churches Chicken parking lot. She told me to stay in the car then she opened her door and got out and begun walking over to the man. I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying to each other but I saw my grandmother smile and hand him something then walked back to the car. I asked what she said to him and she said she asked if she had somewhere to stay and he said yes but it wasn’t a very nice place. She gave him 50 dollars and her card and told him that if he called her she would work something out for him and his family to stay in a healthy environment. She also told him that she would give him a job but if drank he better not show up drunk because she will give you a breathalyzer and if you are then you will know longer have a job! The guy did call Jodi and got him and his family a nice little apartment and she gave him a job!! Everything turned out great for him and his family! Sadly on January 13, 2010 my grandmother went in for her routine check up and was diagnosed with stage 4 aggressive lung cancer. She had 4 lesions on her left lung and 6 on her right. She had a total of 11 on her brain. I remember sitting in the hospital bed with my grandmother and her telling me that she loves and wants the best for me! A little bit later her nurse came in and my grandmother asked her “Can she please have one more cigarette?” Everyone started busting up laughing! My grandmother went home that night because she said she didn’t want to die in this hell hole referring to the hospital. I wanted so badly to go home with her but my mother wouldn’t let me I was so mad then that very same night, I was at my older brothers old apartment, I received a phone call from my aunt Jodi telling me that my grandma took her last breath at 3:06 am on February 6, 2010. That was about three weeks and two days after she was diagnosed. I was furious at my mother for not letting me come down there to spend her lasts with her!! I still think about my amazing Grandmother to this very day and it hurts me so bad!! I ask God every night, “why??” But I’m still waiting on a reply.