Gram is enjoying her solitude and voluntary isolation after years of reining in her strong personality to accommodate her strict husband .
When the children meet Gram for the first time , she is a widow , her husband John having died only a couple of years previously .
Gram is enjoying widow 's solitude and voluntary isolation after years of reining in her strong personality to accommodate her strict husband .
When the children meet Gram for the first time , she is a widow , her husband John having died only a couple of years previously .