52 Ancestors: Week 2 "King": Margaret Ann (Schneider) Boe

For Week 2 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge, Amy Johnson Crow's optional theme is King: "January 8 is Elvis’ birthday. January 15 is the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Do either of these 'Kings' remind you of an ancestor?" Although I wrote about my maternal grandmother Margaret Ann (Schneider) Boe for the 52 Ancestors challenge last year, when I saw the week's theme, I knew I had to write about her again.

When I was growing up, Grandma Boe often picked me up from school. One year, when she picked me up after the last day of school, she said to me "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last!" At the time, I did not know that it was a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. But I thought it was very appropriate. As a child, I was bullied at school. At that time, people did not have the awareness of bullying that they have today. People often told me to ignore it, but that never worked. When the school year ended, I did not have to see those bullies for several months. I really was "free at last," if only for a short time.

I had forgotten that she had said that to me until last year. I am a librarian, and last year the library I work at had a display on Martin Luther King, Jr. I was looking at the display, and the "Free at last" quote was on an open page. As I looked at it, the memory came back to me. I am so glad that I regained another memory of my beloved Grandma Boe, who was such an important part of my life.

Martin Luther King, Jr. giving his "I have a dream" speech, 28 August 1963. From the defunct United States Information Agency; in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of 17 U.S.C. § 105. Original image available from the National Archives and Records Administration and Wikimedia Commons. Text added by Beth Gatlin.

Grandma Boe