Someone asked me to write something about ageless beauty for her website. I sat down and began writing about my grandmother. 25 years after her passing, I was able to still see her captivating smile. At 88 her face was wrinkle free because she gave love through her smiles. The names we are given do define who we are. My grandmother was no exception, born None Such Can Be Beat until she went to college. She was called None Such for short. I learned this one day when I was shopping in Higbee’s Department Store in Cleveland Ohio with my grandmother and a woman said None Such several times As my grandmother turned to her and responded, my grandmother became a girl and she embraced her childhood friend with bexcitement. After she left I asked my grandmother why did she call you None Such. She told me that was her name. She was 50 years old when I learned that she was None Such Can Be Beat. When she enrolled at Tuskegee Institute, Booker T Washington renamed her Wilhelmina, the name I knew her by until that day. Although she became Wilhelmina, she carried the spirit of not being beaten throughout her life.
What did I learn from my grandmother? I learned love. I have a deep abiding love for her and to this day I feel her warmth in my heart. I learned that a smile and laughter is essential. My grandmother loved to smile, wink, and laugh. When she smiled at you, you felt blessed. When she laughed with you, you felt exhilarated, and when she winked at you, you felt included.
My grandmother was life. Oh do I smell White Shoulder when I think of her. Do they still make White Shoulder? The scent is indelibly imprinted in my brain.
My grandmother’s favorite saying was when she leaves here, she wants to use every gift and talent she has so that everything she has is second hand. I am so happy she did because I experienced the richness of her life.
What are you doing to live your life to the fullest? Will the fragrance you wear be imprinted on someone as they think of you? Take a lesson from None Such Can Be Beat and be love, live love,and give love.
I was not aware that I wrote of her on her birthday February 2nd. Nonesuch Can Be Beat Ivory aka Wilhelmina Cole was truly ageless beauty.
By the way, this is not what I wrote for my friend’s website which she will be featuring in April. Go to agelessbyglynisbarber.com and not only see what I had to say about None Such Can Be Beat but get some of Glynis’ wonderful tips on ageless beauty.