The story of grandmas AA boyfriend

 My grandfather was a short alcoholic painter with thick glasses. He had some success in the world of fine art and art academia. For a while he was Dean of Otis Art Institute, he drove a red MG-B and had a high pitch voice like Mickey Mouse. Among other quirks he had (like physical violence without hesitation) what always creeped me out, was his voice. 

One day in 1960’s early 1970’s Canoga Park my mother moved in with her highschool boyfriend to avoid grandpas nastiness (her boyfriend became my father). Her brother my uncle Tim got involved in drugs and biker gangs associated with hippies like the Manson Family to avoid being home. It was During this time in desperation My grandmother Fran started taking grandpa to AA meetings.

In Canoga park at a usual looking white brick church with polished floors and folding chairs it was during one of  these AA meetings when she first laid eyes on Hank. (Story told to me by cousin Doug out of my own curiosity about the Belt:)

“Hank was a cowboy type. A slow talking greasy bald used car salesman. (face palm) Hank was after one thing… Loud SEX.”

*WHY DID THEY TELL ME THAT??? 

In three days she was gone. “Hank swept your grandmother off her feet and she was gone.” Said cousin Doug.

My mother was 17. Her brother Tim was 20.

She moved to Texas from Canoga park to sell Niagara massage chairs and live with Hank. In Texas.

For years, (until I met family in Arizona to talk about my mothers early life in 2020) I wondered about this belt. Who was Fran Ankeny? This belt was in her belongings after she died. I kept it my whole life, now I’m releasing this tale and getting rid of the belt. 

My grandmother divorced my grandfather and left Canoga Park for good to go home to Phoenix after Hank (who she married) developed a gambling addiction. She didn’t speak to my mother until I was born in 1985. 

She was an excellent grandmother to me I loved her dearly. She ended up meeting a much nicer man named John after I was born who sent me Christmas gifts every year until he died in 1998, four years after my grandmother. 

This belt was in the storage unit left to me by my mother.