By Leigh Ann Rutledge
Accent Editor
November 17, 2009
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| Nancy Buckridge (left) and Norma Grunder. |
They are sisters, best friends, twins - two separate parts of the same whole.
Twins Nancy Buckridge and Norma Grunder will celebrate their 75th birthday Nov. 18, 2009, with a “ladies only” lunch at Taggarts in Magnolia. The “ladies” are their daughters and granddaughters.
Born Nov. 18, 1934, in New Harrisburg, the identical twins are the daughters of Golda Scott and the late Dwight Scott. Golda, who celebrated her 99th birthday July 4th, has failing eyesight but can still tell the girls apart. Back then, Golda didn’t have ultrasound or modern medical techniques to tell her she was having twins. When asked her what she thought waking up after giving birth to discover she had twins, she replied, “That’s ok. It’s ok.”
Nancy and Norma have a special connection that those who aren’t a twin cannot understand. Nancy said, “Mom always told everyone about us sitting on the steps, carrying on a conversation with each other, even though we weren’t actually talking yet.” They dressed alike while attending school at New Harrisburg and off and on in high school. The girls say during high school, they would buy the same clothes but in different colors so they had more of a variety of clothes to wear.
They graduated from Carrollton High School in 1952 and can only think of one time they tried to pull a switcheroo with their teachers. “I liked the boy who sat behind Norma in study hall and I tried to convince the teacher that Norma came before Nancy so we could swap seats,” laughed Nancy. “It didn’t work. We were always together and never did intentionally try to confuse people.”
And they never fought. There was no rivalry between them claiming the only people they fought with was their brothers, Kenny and Ralph Scott. “We never liked the same boys. Never fought over things or with each but we only doubled dated one time,” they explained.
Growing up, they participated in the same things, square dancing, grange, and euchre. “Dad taught us to play euchre when we were young because he needed four for a game,” they laughed. “Usually if we spent the night at friends houses, both went, never just one of us.”
Nancy applied for a job with General Telephone in Carrollton and when she didn’t get hired she went work at Ohio Bell in Canton until she started her family. She married Robert Buckridge in 1953 and they resided in Canton for 25 years. They have three children, Vickie (Scott) Betz, Cindie (Dan) Strauss and Robert, Jr. (Jeannette); five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Robert decided he didn’t want to live in Canton any longer and after Robert Jr. graduated from high school they moved back to New Harrisburg directly across the street from where Nancy had grown up.
Nancy said, “I had no intention of coming back to New Harrisburg and during the first year back I would have went back to Canton right then. But now, I am so thankful Bob wanted to get out of Canton. I am so glad we came back.”
Norma agrees, “I was glad when she moved back. I didn’t drive when she first moved to Canton and we didn’t see each other much. Once she moved back, we began saving on phone bills!”
Norma married Charles Grunder in 1954 and when General Telephone finally called to offer Nancy a job, Norma took it. She worked at the Carrollton office until she started a family and became a stay-at-home mother. They have five children, Jeff, Jim, Scott of Cincinnati, Dan (Amber) of Harlem Springs and Kathy (Pat) Brown of Minerva and five grandchildren.
Nancy and Norma were pregnant together in 1956, giving birth to Cindie and Jim respectively. “Our kids are more like half-siblings rather than cousins. They are so much a like in so many way,” they explained. “We wanted our kids to have twins but none did.”
With Nancy and Norma both in Carroll County, they unintentionally got a few laughs on people. Nancy and Bob would go out to eat and they would get double takes thinking Norma was dining with a strange man. “Oh, the ladies at the bank went crazy. Finally they learned what cars we drove and that was how that told us apart,” they said. “That worked for awhile, they would think Nancy has the red car but then I sold the red car to Norma!” chuckled Nancy.
After moving down here, Nancy took care of her granddaughter after school from kindergarten until she turned 13. Norma also began babysitting and has eight “special children” she began babysitting when some were infants. Brigette and Allison Campbell, Sarah, Sally and Shelly Schmachtenberger and her husband’s great nieces and nephews, Curtis Moyer, Macey and Harley Ulman. The Campbell and Schmachtenberger girls have all graduated from high school but still keep in touch with the lady they referred to as “GG.” “I was famous for baking cookies,” stated Norma. “Macey and Harley are the youngest and they are in second and third grade. The little ones like to spend the weekend.” Norma tells Shelly is in college but calls on Sundays and all the kids always wanted to come to her house when they were sick. “I really enjoy kids,” she explained. “Those who don’t enjoy them don’t know what they are missing.”
For two sisters who never fought, how did their families get along? “We drove our husbands nuts! We would go shopping separately and end up buying the same items,” they admitted. “It was several years before we realized we were buying our aunts the same birthday cards.” When the families gathered together, Nancy said, “One of Chuck’s favorite sayings when we were together and I would say something was ‘Sounds like some of my wife’s people talking’.”
Golda worked for Dr. Lincke for years as a registered nurse and had set ideas about how things were to be done. “Mom was sick and I went over to her house to hang clothes on the line and there she is inside telling me, ‘That’s not how you hang the socks they won’t dry!’ stated Nancy. “I am so glad I moved back. I was supposed to be here in New Harrisburg.”
Today, they both have the same hobbies, reading, puzzles, and flowers. Nancy volunteers at the Multiple Sclerosis meetings at the New Harrisburg Church and she likes computer games. However, Norma doesn’t have a computer and doesn’t want one.
Norma and her husband have both had health issues in the past year. “I thank God for my kids they have really helped us.” While the kids took care of Chuck, Norma was in Cleveland Clinic and when she was released, everyone thought it would be best if she stayed at Nancy’s house. “She stayed for four days. The first night when we got ready for bed, I yelled down the hall, ‘I am so glad you are here, Sis.’, said Nancy.
Nancy and Norma stay active, going to lunch with friends or shopping. They begin the day with an 8:30 a.m. check in call to each other and speak in the afternoon and evening “to find out what’s new with each other.” “It’s been a good life, really great to know you always have somebody there,” they stated.
The twins say there is nothing like being twins. “We can’t understand how family members fight with each other or can’t get along,” they wondered. Their lives have been so intertwined, when Norma tells a story Nancy knows exactly what she is talking about. Norma said, “Sally (Schmachtenberger) was in the ‘Guys and Dolls’ play and she asked me if I had any old clothes she could borrow. I got into the trunks and found a blue satin dress she borrowed.” “That was our good blue dress we had in high school. It had a ribbon trim,” finished Nancy.
After a time reminiscing and laughing, Nancy stated, “Nothing and no one has separated us. We have our burial plots. They are side-by-side. My mother-in-law told me my husband was on the wrong side but I told her, ‘No, he’s where he is supposed to be’.”
They are quiet before Nancy said, “It’s been a good life, hasn’t it Sis? Everyone tells me not to say this but I tell them the good Lord brought us in this world together and I pray we go out together.”
These twins, sisters and best friends have both worked for telephone companies, been pregnant at the same time, dressed alike, bought the same items without the other one knowing and today dressed in red and white matching shirts, they will turn heads as they go shopping. When someone asks one of them how they are, they will reply “I’m fine and my sister is good too!” |
