Bettie Gandy Garrett - The Original Grandmother of Grandmother's Buttons

[caption id="attachment_58" align="aligncenter" width="694" caption="Bettie Gandy Garrett at 16 - circa 1905"][/caption]As the name implies, Grandmother's Buttons is all about history, about noticing the small things, and about finding beauty in the simplest of everyday objects.  We thought it only appropriate that we begin our blog by telling you our favorite story, the one about Susan's grandmother and her boxes of buttons.  We even named the company after her! 

There may be those of you who have heard this tale.  It's frequently a one-liner on our website and in out press kit - “knowing she needed to start a business for additional income, Susan went to her 95-year-old grandmother for inspiration.”  But we want to give you more - that's what blogs are for, you know - for giving you the inside story, for letting you know what inspires us, what keeps us showing up every day to create beautiful, unique and what we consider heirloom quality jewelry. 

[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignleft" width="166" caption="Bettie on the Steamboat, headed to Cincinnati in 1905"][/caption]

Susan's grandmother Bettie Gandy Garrett was born in 1889 in rural north Louisiana, the youngest daughter of a fairly successful farmer.  In her early life she was part pioneer woman (adept at wringing chickens’ necks and shooting wild hogs) and part belle of the ball (her diary speaks in great detail of her many beaus and country social activities).   At only 16 she took a steamboat by herself from Memphis to attend the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, a great adventure documented in these faded photos.           

[caption id="attachment_54" align="alignright" width="142" caption="Bettie in Cincinnatti"][/caption]

Bettie married J.B. Garrett, ten years her senior, in 1912.  Together they raised three children, including Susan’s father Harvey, living on extension farms that J.B., an entomologist, ran for LSU.  Frugal does not begin to describe Bettie’s methods of housekeeping.  Recycling was an economic necessity, not just a good thing to do:  bread wrappers and “tin foil” were washed and used again and again; socks were darned; elastic was cut from old slips and reused; and of course, all buttons were clipped from old garments and saved in boxes. 

[caption id="attachment_56" align="alignleft" width="175" caption="Bettie Gandy at an oil well with friends"][/caption]

Through the years, these boxes of buttons built up, so that in 1985, Bettie, at 95, had at least 30 of them. Susan and her husband Donny had moved back to the family farm in St. Francisville, Louisiana, just down the road from Bettie’s house.  Their plan was to run a small gourmet vegetable growing operation.  Donny, however, fell and broke both arms, and Susan had to come up with an income to tide them through until he recovered. 

At loose ends, she took to visiting her grandmother in the afternoons, relishing stories of the steamboat, her many admirers, and raising children during the Depression.  Often the two would rummage through Bettie’s closets and drawers, each artifact bringing forth a host of memories.  When they began delving into the button boxes (an amazing assortment of kitchen tins and candy boxes), Susan was struck with an idea that she has lived with every day since.  Plucking a pair of beautiful vintage faceted glass buttons from the 30's out of a box, she held it to her ear and said, “Grandma, these buttons would make great earrings!” 

Sensing a way to create a quick income and exercise her artistic yen, Susan was soon buying other buttons and selling her wares at local crafts and antiques shows.  Within three years Donny put up his plow and joined Grandmother’s Buttons as a business manager.  Bettie, sadly, lived only to see the bare beginnings of the business that she had inspired, but Susan’s mother Miriam, still living nearby on the farm, is at age 92 Grandmother’s Buttons' very best model. 

The most important part of this story is that Susan's grandmother was always an inspiration, and at a moment when Susan needed a creative nudge and some income, Grandma Garrett provided her with yet another new idea, and reminded her that making something old new again is always the best method.  Grandma Garrett was the ultimate recycler, and at Grandmother's Buttons we like to think that we're honoring her memory in the most powerful way by “upcycling” antique buttons into beautiful jewelry. 

Inspiring - it's what the strong women in our lives do for us.  Hopefully it's what we do for one another.  As we said in the opening paragraph, history is what we're all about.  But we're not just interested in reviewing past history, we're also dedicated to making worthwhile history.  Inspire someone you love today – give them a reason to create great history.  Make Grandma Garrett proud!