Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | T | The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

Don't call me Granny.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

When Marlene Hockema learned she was going to become a grandparent several years ago, she knew she definitely didn't want to be called grandmother.

"I wasn't ready to go there," said Hockema, 55, who claims to have enough of a youthful appearance to pass herself off as her son's sister. "I think of grandmas as being gray-haired and I'm blonde. It just doesn't fit."

Hockema, 55, chose the name Oma, the German title for grandmother, and the moniker stuck. She says she's not the only one from her generation who doesn't want to be thought of as a dainty old lady.

"We baby boomers don't want to give it up," Hockema said. "I don't feel like a grandma yet."

There are plenty of other grandparents who aren't ready to be called grandma or grandpa or gramps or granny or anything else that sounds "old."

Don Fassett, 47, of Eugene, still isn't sure what he's going to be called now that his daughter Ashley is carrying twins.

"We don't want anything that sounds really old," he said. "But there are some funny (names) out there ... We do not want to be Meemaw or...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!