As many of you may recall, my mom’s mother died unexpectedly on Halloween.

My other grandmother had not been well for a few years, but she became really ill last week. My parents and I were able to go and see her in the hospital in Charleston, S.C., before she died late Friday/early Saturday morning.

Grandma was a very loving, caring person who didn’t like big crowds but loved spending time with a few friends or family members. She took me to my first day of kindergarten (although I don’t remember that), and my friends and I would go and stay at my grandparents’ house for beach weekends when we were in college. She used to love to go shopping, and she loved pretty things. She hated my red hair.

Grandma would always buy foods she thought we’d like, but she didn’t cook — once, she bought a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese when I was visiting, but told me she couldn’t remember how to make it.

She was born in Uvalda, Georgia, which had been incorporated less than a decade before her birth and had a population of just 530 in the 2000 Census. She grew up in Leesburg, Florida, and met my grandfather when he was hitchhiking — a car full of girls stopping to pick up a young Marine in uniform. They were married for 69 years, and now he’s wearing her wedding ring on his dog tags.

I think I’ve inherited a lot of things from my Grandma, including her love and appreciation of makeup (especially pink lipstick), her impossibly sensitive skin and an always-runny nose. I hope I also have inherited her kindness, loving nature and generous spirit.