<attempted humor alert>
I have a relative who was a Grass widow. Yes, a Grass widow and not a grass widow. There is a difference.
You see my ancestor was Johannes Grass and when he died in the 1880s, his wife survived him. That makes her a Grass widow.
The phrase “grass widow” has a different meaning and usually the husband is not dead.
4 Responses
I thought it meant the man left his family letting the wife get a divorce.
This post was a little bit tongue in cheek based on the last name of “Grass” and linked to a post that discussed term in more detail. Often the “grass widow” was divorced, but not always.
Not long after my first husband, 1st Lt William E McConnell, Army Ranger, was killed, I was back in Atlanta applying for a credit card at a local store… when i put down ‘widow’ as my married status, the woman taking my application commented ‘You mean grass widow’… to which I replied, having no idea what she meant, “Well I am not sure but my husband was killed in September.” She did not reply but, at 22, I was young to be a widow with a baby and small son. I asked my aunt when I got back home what a ‘grass widow’ was, and told her the circumstances, and she said, Divorced – I hope you straightened her out!’
But I will always be someone’s widow, although long remarried.
Good for your aunt! 🙂
And, as you know, that was a young age to be a widow.
Thanks for sharing your story.