The Liar, The Witch, & The Granddaughter
My own grandmother. Who were you?
Growing up, I spent a great majority of my time at my grandmother's condo on Texas Avenue in South Orlando. I preferred the calmness of her condo as opposed to my own home, where everyone walked on eggshells around my father. My grandmother loved to shop and would always buy me toys and new clothes. Every Friday, I would spend the night and watch TGIF on ABC on the big screen TV in her den. I always had the den all to myself. and it was tradition to order a supreme Pizza Hut pizza on Fridays.
Below is a picture of my grandmother's condo at Alhambra Village. Her condo was located on the first floor, on the bottom left of the picture. My bedroom was the first window you see on the first floor.
I would spend my summers and weekends swimming in the pool by the clubhouse or walking around the spooky man-made lake behind the condo. My grandma didn't cook, so I survived on McDonald's, microwavable food, and cans of Pepsi. Health was not a priority for her, I have many memories of her sitting in her formal, all-white living room, chain-smoking one cigarette after the other and attending daily "happy hours" at her neighbor's home to drink and play Scrabble.
Below is a picture of the clubhouse and pool by the lake. I would often walk there from my grandma's building (not pictured) and swim with my family or friends. It was a short walk, but the lake harbored mean geese who would often chase and attack me!
My grandmother, Dorothy Lee Musser, would often tell me stories of her past. I wish at the time that I would have wrote them down, but what child would? At the time, I didn't realize she would one day die of brain cancer and take all of her stories and knowledge of family history with her, but, of what she did tell me, what was true?
See, my grandma had a history of being manipulative and a geriatric Mean Girl. My father said she was a witch. He claims to have childhood memories of she and my grandfather doing rituals that made money appear before his own eyes, on the family coffee table. He goes as far to believe his step-father, a warlock, placed a curse on him. Do others curse us or do we only curse ourselves?
My grandmother was a member of her condo- Alhambra Village's- Home Owner's Association. I have memories of her towing the cars of people she wasn't fond of for fun. One time, she "outed" her upstairs neighbor to his parents. Is this a person whose "memories" and family stories I could trust?
She told my mother that nobody would ever find record of her birth certificate, that three men have claimed to be her father and her mother was a famous burlesque dancer, Blaze Starr. Even though, there may be some mild resemblance and geographical similarities, Blaze Starr could not be my great-grandmother if my grandma was born in 1942. According to Wikipedia and other sources, Blaze Starr was born as Fannie Belle Fleming in 1932. My mom told me my grandma was convinced Starr was her mother and kept a National Enquirer article written about her. I'm not sure why my grandmother attached herself to Starr, but it seems to be a fantastical idea made up by a girl who never knew her own biological mother and dreamed of who she could be.
Dorothy Musser is every genealogist's nightmare. The only record I have of her is her divorce record from Rockingham County, Virginia. According to the divorce record, my biological grandfather, Paul Caldwell, filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery. My grandmother maintains that he was the actual adulterer. My mother maintains that even after my grandma remarried to Duke Pearson, she still talked on the phone with Paul for a couple hours a day- every day.
My grandmother also claims she went to school at James Madison University and later worked at John Hopkins as a biochemist testing either chemical or germ warfare on animals under the Ford Administration. This is something I intend to research further. Her divorce record states she only attended high school up to the 11th grade, my mom says that my grandmother does claim that she was so intelligent that she graduated high school when she only 16 or 17. My grandmother was brilliant, that I know. She was incredibly intelligent both academically and artistically. She could do calligraphy and was extremely creative. She could sew like nobody's business. I did not inherit her creativity.
My dad recalls that my grandmother quit her job at John Hopkins because she could not continue doing that type of research and killing innocent animals. After she left her job is when they moved to Florida. I remember him telling me she was hoping to get a job involving testing sonar or something similar on submarines. I remember he showed me the lake he says the research was done on here in Orlando and that she was so sure she would get this job, that when she didn't she went crazy.
Below is a picture of the lake and testing facility my dad said she was hoping to work at. This lake is located off of Gatlin Avenue in Orlando, near downtown. The area is now a residential area, I'm not sure of the accuracy of the information.
This blog post isn't meant to be an expose, rather a dumping area for memories of her. Unfortunately, what I- and many other family members remember about her- are not always positive personality traits. She was a good grandma to me, though. I was absolutely, positively spoiled. She passed away in 2000, when two packs a day of Virginia Slims had caught up with her. Lung cancer had traveled to her brain. A brilliant mind gone bad. As a child, I knew something was wrong. Leaving The Florida Mall one day, she became confused and asked where we were. She didn't know how to get home, a mere 15 minutes away, and I had to give her directions back to her condo.
I am committed to finding out who she was. The truth is out there, somewhere in Virginia and Maryland. My husband and I are planning a permanent move to Virginia's Hampton Roads area. He is homesick for his hometown and a move to Virginia will greatly expand my research. My ancestors have been in Virginia since it was still a British Colony. Until then, my digital research of my elusive grandmother continues. She continues to be an enigma, hiding in the shadows like a ghost, eluding me.
Ancestor Data
Name: Dorothy Lee Musser
Married Names: Dorothy Caldwell, Dorothy Pearson
Alternate Name: Dotty/Dottie. Has told me her middle name was LaDonna.
Husbands: Paul Caldwell, Duke Pearson
Birth Date: June 11, 1942
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
Death: July 21, 2000 in Orlando, Florida
Cause: Cancer (lung/brain)
Children: Christopher Caldwell, Victoria Caldwell
