The Toledo Blade ran this nice article about my Grandmother on Friday, June 10, 2005. This was in addition to her obituary. I’ve copied the article in its entirety since newspaper articles have tendency to disappear from the web.

AUDREY WHITMORE, 1914-2005
Ticket taker a legend at Stranahan Theater
Audrey Whitmore, 90, head ticket taker at the Stranahan Theater, where she’d worked for more than three decades, died Monday in Medical University of Ohio Medical Center.
She was trimming rose bushes two weeks ago when she fell and broke a hip. She developed an infection while in the hospital.
Mrs. Whitmore had taken tickets for countless graduations, lectures, concerts, and stage shows.
While in the hospital, “She just fretted that she was not going to be there for all the graduations,” daughter Denise Shumway said.
Mrs. Whitmore was a legend at the Stranahan, and not just for her longevity.
“People [told] me how she remembered their names and details about them,” her daughter said.
Liz Sudheimer, marketing director for the Stranahan Theater and Great Hall at the Masonic Complex, said: “She was kind of like everybody’s mom.”
About two months ago, Mrs. Whitmore said to Ms. Sudheimer, “Come to my car. I have something for you.”
The head ticket taker had a box filled with programs from nearly every show that had been at the Stranahan.
“We did not have an archive. Now we have one,” Ms. Sudheimer said.
Mrs. Whitmore’s affiliation began when her daughter Denise was in the Masonic group, the Rainbow for Girls. Ushering at the theater was the group’s money-making project, and Mrs. Whitmore volunteered to be an adult supervisor. When the theater converted to a volunteer workforce, she knew the job and was asked to stay.
The job later became a paying position and she was promoted to head ticket taker.
Mrs. Whitmore was a 1932 graduate of Libbey High School. She did not work outside the home as her children were growing up.
“She was a homemaker. She put her family first,” her daughter said. “She was a very giving person. From a biblical standpoint, she just had a gift of giving. There was no fanfare. She just took care of what she saw needed to be done. I feel I have a very special heritage, my sister and I both do, and we have passed that on.”
Mrs. Whitmore was a longtime member of the Ohio State University Home Extension Club.
She was especially proud that the glass decorating business begun by her husband, George, and taken over by their late son, Jack, remained in the family.
She and her husband, George were married for 33 years until his death in 1966.
She attended Holland Free Methodist Church.
Surviving are her daughters, Beverly Schaefer and Denise Shumway; sister, Doris Shepler; 10 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren, and a great-great-granddaughter.
Services will be at 11 a.m. today in the Walter Funeral Home.
The family suggests tributes to Family Outreach Ministries in care of Westgate Chapel or a charity of the donor’s choice.

This past weekend was a busy and challenging one. My grandmother (Mom’s Mom) of 90 years old passed away last Monday and we headed to Toledo on Thursday afternoon. Times like this offer up an overwhelming range of emotions as you relive the joys and memories of the relationship and grieve at their passing.
Even though Grandma was 90, her death was quite unexpected. As I wrote a little about her in our Christmas trip recap back in January, grandma was healthy, active and independent. She kept her own home, still drove and still worked as the head ticket taker at the theater where the symphony played and the Broadway shows came. She last worked on May 19th. The following week she went on an outing with the OSU Home Extension Club. On May 27th, she fell while gardening in her back yard while gardening, breaking her hip. The initial prognosis was good, her heart and bones were quite strong, but a week after the fall, she developed an infection. She returned on June 5th to the hospital from the nursing home where she had been getting therapy, and she passed away early Monday morning. The infection had spread rapidly and Grandma had just simply grown weary of fighting through the pain.
Grandma’s life was characterized by self sacrifice. She was always working at helping someone. She made countless meals for my family and took care of us numerous times when Mom and Dad went out or away. She was ever present at family gatherings, usually at the sink doing dishes or tending to food on the stove. When Grandma came over, she usually brought something. It might be a plant from her yard to take home and put in ours. Frequently it was some sort of baked goods. These would arrive in a recycled plastic snap close container that originally contained day old bagels, glazed donuts or something, and carried in a used grocery bag. Grandma didn’t throw anything away, it always had another use in it, so those plastic bagel boxes got used as cookie transports.
Grandma also seemed (wrongly) convinced that she was rather insignificant in anyone’s life, unnoticed and rather unimportant. She asked some time before her death that the viewing hours for her passing be kept to only 30 minutes. We think that she figured any longer and the lack of people would be embarrassing. There were 7 hours of time and the string of people only let up slightly around dinner. In all, well over 200 people (closer to 300, I think) came to pay their respects to a woman who had quietly impacted so many. If only she had understood.
What surprised even the family was the amazing response from her coworkers at the Stranahan Theater. Over 30 of them came by and told stories of how she had impacted them personally. Some wept as if they had lost a member of their own family. She had stood at that center door, taking tickets, for some 35 years – since the theater opened in 1969. One by one they told of how she had welcomed them, advised them and loved them. We knew that Grandma was appreciated more than she knew there, but even we had no idea the impact she had made. We received a letter from the theater that they would be dedicating a seat in the theater to her with a plaque detailing her years of service. It only seemed right for her name to be permanently affixed to the theater she loved so much.
Saturday was spent going through some of Grandma’s things at her house, cleaning up and making plans for distributing and disposing of her belongings. We laughed at the things she saved and remembered the woman she was. We marveled at some of the items we found. Her dresser was made sometime in the mid 1800’s, we think by a family member. It’s a remarkable piece of furniture in remarkable condition. We found numerous family pictures, including a scrapbook album made by my Great Grandmother (we think) for her brother in 1905. My wife and sister, both avid scrap bookers, marveled at that find. Early pictures of my wife and I reminded me that we are no longer young and of how much hair I’ve lost. Of course, she manages to look better as she ages while I just look, well, older.
The weekend ended on a bittersweet note as we had a surprise party for my Aunt and Uncle’s 25th wedding anniversary. Grandma was my Aunt’s Mom, so while the celebration was good, it was also sad knowing that Grandma had missed it. Their kids had planned the event, digging out my Aunt’s wedding dress she had crocheted herself and the white three piece suit my uncle had worn. They re-created their wedding cake and topped it with the same cake topper found at Grandma’s house just the day before (With 25 year old frosting flowers still on it! We washed it good first.) No recollection of their wedding would be complete without tales of the tornado that went through the area during the ceremony (the organist, with her weather radio, was yelling in a whisper “get down!” and diving under the organ.) We also laughed at their High School pictures and pictures of their early years. What hippies!
Four and a half days packed with emotion, but in all a good weekend. A celebration of a life of giving and two lives still tied together after 25 years.