Author and Columnist Shelly Reuben

Many of you may be happily familiar with Anna Mary Robertson – popularly known as Grandma Moses. Others may not. So I’ll start at the beginning.

In 1860, Anna Mary was born (one of 10 children) on a farm in Greenwich, New York. She married Thomas Moses when she was 27 years old, and moved with him to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, where they farmed, and raised five children. They returned to New York in 1905.

Tom died in 1927 when Anna Mary was 67 years old, and she suddenly found herself alone and with time on her hands. She enjoyed quilting and embroidery, but had to give that up when arthritis in her hands made stitching too painful. However, she was still oozing with energy and creativity. So she began to dabble with paint.

She didn’t begin her serious work as an artist until she was 78 years old. Two years short of 80. I’ll tell you more about this amazing woman. Her artwork first, because I want to make a point.

Grandma Moses is called a “primitive” artist, because she was self-taught. I am a self-taught writer, but there is nothing “primitive” about me, so I think that’s a misnomer. The Smithsonian said “She painted nostalgic scenes of American life and sold them at county fairs alongside her prize-winning pickles. In 1939 a collector saw her paintings in the window of the local pharmacy and bought them all. Soon after, Hallmark purchased the rights to reproduce her paintings on greeting cards and the name Grandma Moses became known across the country. She died at 101, after painting more than fifteen hundred images.”

The images? Country fields and hedgerows. Barns. Christmas tree farms. Quilting parties. Winter storms. Burning bridges. Boys fishing. Children climbing trees. Maple syrup season. Farmers planting or harvesting crops. Picnics. Thanksgiving turkeys. Sleigh rides.

Idealized, accurate, nostalgic, loving, and colorful depictions of her life and her cherished memories.

Even decades after she died, when people like us visit county fairs, Apple Fests, family reunions, outdoor weddings, barbeques, and craft shows, her world is reflected in how we live today. Because, in many ways, her past is our present.

In 1969, the U.S. Postal Service honored Grandma Moses by printing her painting “The Fourth of July,” as a .06 ¢ stamp. That delights me, as I love to imagine people writing letters to friends and family with a tiny bit of Americana adorning the upper righthand corner of their envelopes.

Which bring me to the question of why am I talking about Grandma Moses today? Partly because I am a fan of her artwork. Mostly, though, because, of late, I have heard so many people who, when life throws them a spanner (death of a spouse; divorce; eviction from an apartment; loss of income), instead of greeting the challenge with indomitability, if not enthusiasm, all they do is complain.

So I thought it would be helpful to hear about a woman nearing 80 years of age, recently widowed, crippled by arthritis, no longer farming, raising children, or taking care of a husband, who not only REINVENTED HERSELF, but who, for an additional 20 plus years (she died in 1961), succeeded in doing something challenging, unpredictable, and new.

Here are a few others who did the same.

DANIEL DEFOE. Spent his early life as a merchant, spy, and prisoner, and did not write Robinson Crusoe, his first novel, until he was 59 years old.

BRAM STOKER: Theatrical manager and personal assistant to actor Henry Irving. He wrote the immortal novel Dracula when he was 50 years old.

FRANCES GLESSNER LEE: She is one of my favorites. Born to wealthy parents in 1878, Frances developed a passion for police work when she was in her late 40s, and began to construct perfect doll-house size replicas of domestic crime scenes. These, complete with homey touches like family photos, floral wallpaper, love seats, comfy arm chairs, hook rugs, blood spatters, discarded weapons, and dead bodies, became known as “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Deaths,” and were (and still are) used to as training tools to investigate crimes.

ERMA BOMBECK began her career as a humorist and best-selling author when she was 40 years old. JULIA MARGARET CAMERON became a photographer when she was 48 years old. PETER MARK ROGET, a retired medical doctor, did not embark upon his true passion … collecting words … until he was 61 years old, and his “Roget’s Thesaurus” wasn’t published until he was 74. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT defied convention and built the Guggenheim Museum – a round building among rectangular sky scrapers – when he was 92 years old.

And on and on and on.

So, when life provides us with unwelcomed challenges, making us wonder if up is still up and down is still down … take heart. We have options. Regardless of our age and set of circumstances, we can become anything that we want, at whatever age we are (as long as we are still thinking and breathing).

And if we are very talented and very lucky … who knows? Maybe, like Grandma Moses, one day we, too, can become a postage stamp!

Copyright © Shelly Reuben, 2025. Shelly Reuben’s books have been nominated for Edgar, Prometheus, and Falcon awards. For more about her writing, visit www.shellyreuben.com