THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 1, 1995 TAG: 9505010116
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
The 7-year-old granddaughter is sliding down the coffee table. The 9-year-old grandson is playing hide-and-seek. And the 4-year-old granddaughter is searching for candy.
In the midst of kid chaos, 76-year-old Lottie Pidgeon sits, smiling, speaking loudly to be heard above the din.
This is a joy for her, having her grandchildren around.
Pidgeon, in fact, just might be the nation's best grandmother. She's been picked as one of nine finalists for that title in a contest sponsored by the Washington Apple Commission.
Pidgeon's 13-year-old granddaughter, Loni Dixon, of Suffolk, nominated her grandmother when she saw the application in a local Farm Fresh.
``She has three apple trees in her yard and makes the best applesauce and apple pies,'' Loni wrote, in an obvious bid to sway the apple-friendly judges. ``She eats two apples a day to keep the doctors away. My grandma is the greatest!''
The sentiment is shared by the four Pidgeon grandchildren who live in Hampton Roads and their five cousins in North Carolina.
``She lets us mess up her living room playing restaurant,'' began 7-year-old Nicole Pidgeon, as she ticked off the reasons her grandmother is special. ``She reads us lots of stories, five or six.''
Nine-year-old Jonathan Pidgeon pipes in. ``She takes us crabbing, for long walks, she plays basketball with us and horseshoes.''
And she makes the best rice pudding and chocolate-chip cookies the children could ask for.
If this sounds like an exhausting schedule for a 76-year-old, you don't know Lottie. A thin woman with a barely lined face, she walks three miles, four times a week. She works out at the Norfolk Senior Center, lifting weights, making circuits on the exercise equipment and taking aerobics class twice a week.
And she's obsessive about entering contests. Her car, a small sailboat and the gleaming white garage doors she recently won are a testament to her skill.
And now the granny contest. Lottie and the other finalists were chosen from nearly 1,000 applicants, said Rita Brautigam, spokeswoman for the Washington Apple Commission. Lottie and Loni will travel to Washington next week for a tour of apple country, a parade in the Apple Blossom Festival and the final judging.
The winner will appear on the industry's promotional poster and attend special events at retailers around the country.
Ask Lottie what makes a great grandmother and she sums up her secret in one sentence: Treat each grandchild as an individual, because each one is different.
Her role model was her own mother, who was an invaluable help when Lottie was trying to raise six children while her Marine husband was on assignment.
``I never thought I'd ever do as much for my kids as she did for me,'' Lottie said, her eyes filling as she remembered her mother. ``But I think I'm catching up.''
She's more than caught up, say her son and daughter-in-law, William and Brenda Pidgeon of Norfolk.
``She's on call for her grandchildren,'' said William, who operates the heart-lung machine at Virginia Beach General Hospital and is often on call himself.
Brenda, a registered nurse, said she doesn't know how they'd make it - with three children and two working parents - without Lottie's help.
In fact, the Pidgeons realized as they talked, they haven't hired a babysitter in the nine years since Jonathan was born. Either Lottie or another family member has always been there.
Lottie still lives in the large stone house on the banks of the Lafayette River where William grew up. Widowed now, she keeps the house so she has room when her grandchildren visit. She's lost count of how many grandbabies she's rocked to sleep on the wooden swing out on the wide porch.
Being a grandma, she says, gives her a wonderful feeling. ``I love to look at the kids and see what they're doing and try to engage in their lives.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by Tamara Voninski
Lottie Pidgeon with four grandmother, from left: Loni, Anna, Nicole,
Jonathan.
Lottie Pidgeon of Norfolk, finalist for Grandmother of the Year -
thanks to grandaughter Loni Dixon, 13, left. Other appreciative
grandkids, front: Anna Pidgeon,4;Nicole Pidgeon,7; and Jonathan
Pidgeon,9.
KEYWORDS: CONTEST GRANDMOTHER by CNB