My Hero
by Jessica A.
My hero is my grandmother, Helen Marie Faucette. She is 72 years old. She was born on March 6, 1940 in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. She has three children, three grandchildren, and eleven siblings: six brothers and five sisters. She is retired and currently lives in Durham, North Carolina with her husband.
My grandmother’s childhood was rough. When she and her siblings got home from school, they would immediately have to change out of their school clothes and go to work in the fields and then they had to complete their homework after their work was finished. Her dresses were made out of empty flour bags. Their house was made out of plank and the roof was tin. Sometimes when it rained, water would drop into their house. But my grandmother had very hardworking parents, and they enjoyed life even though they were poor. My grandmother enjoyed school when she was young and was very excited to learn. She went to North Carolina Central University. After she graduated from NCCU, she went to be a secretary and a substitute at Eastend School in Durham. She also worked as a telegram operator supervisor at Western Union, a secretary at NCCU. Later she moved up to research assistant at NCCU. Her last two jobs were at Duke Business School and at the attorney general’s office in Raleigh until she retired.
When I think of a trait to describe my grandmother, I think of dependable. My grandmother had to learn to be dependable at an early age, because her mother died of an unknown cause when she was just 15 year old! She had to take care of her siblings and handle school like a grown up. That dependability has followed her into adulthood, because she’s not one for talk, she is all about doing. There was once a time when I was at school, and I was sick and my mom and dad were at work. Even though she was on her way to go exercise, she didn’t mind picking me up and taking me home. There have been times where I’ve been feeling down, and when everybody else is busy or has something else to do, but she always makes time to sit and talk to me. You know that if she says she’ll do something, she will do it.
My grandmother is very dedicated. It amazes me how she can be a Mother in the church, a caretaker, a grandmother and a mother, and she still has time to fit everyone in on her schedule. She is a role model in the community as well as in church. She is also dedicated because she doesn’t mind helping anytime she is needed. I don’t know how many times I’ve asked her to do favors for me, and she figures out ways to do them, even if she is extremely busy. The final thing she does that makes her so dedicated is her interest to help the community. I’ve seen her help people that she knows and people that she does not know, and I’ve seen other people’s days brighten because of her.
The last trait that describes my grandmother is caring. She helps people all the time with their issues, and has a genuine interest in helping people better themselves. One time she was looking at her church program, and on the sick and shut-in list, there was a lady she knew that had been ill for a long time. She called her room at Duke Hospital, and she didn’t get an answer. She then called the main office at Duke to see if the lady was still there. She called the lady’s house, and kept calling different places until she finally was able to reach the lady. She is always asking how my little sister and I are feeling, and you can tell she’s just not saying it because she feels like she has to. She cares about how you feel and does not mind going out of her way to help you feel better.
My grandmother has had a huge impact on my life. She has taught me respect, kindness, and how to love others despite their faults. She is a role model to everyone, and she is impossible not to love. Her advice has bettered me as a person, a student, and a daughter. It’s nice to have her to talk to when I have a serious issue I want to resolve, or just to talk and have a few good laughs. She is exactly who I want to be like when I grow up. I feel truly blessed to have her as a grandmother.
