Grandmother gives family role her all

The writing on Letha Rounds' shirt could say it all: "Grandma is my name, spoiling is my game."

But the 78-year-old Paradise resident is more than prepared to elaborate on her favorite role.

She is a mother to six, grandmother to 14 and great-grandmother to 10 children.

"I just look good," she jokes of her age and stature.

National Grandparents Day is Sunday, and Rounds hopes more than her family acknowledge their elders that day.

In the 1970s, West Virginian Marian McQuade founded the holiday to educate youths about important contributions seniors have made. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation declaring the first Sunday in September after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day to signify "the autumn years of life."

In the decade that followed, Rounds assumed a role that thousands of grandparents have each year. Rounds took in and helped raise seven of her grandchildren at various times in the past three decades.

"It didn't matter the reason I had to take care of the kids," she said. "I didn't want them in foster care."

She struggled to keep them in her care. She fought a war of bureaucracy for financial assistance.

Rounds started a support group and a nonprofit entity in the 1990s for grandparents in her native Arkansas and helped many families receive help.

She helped arrange National Grandparents Day celebrations.

"It has a special place in my heart because grandparents had such a hard time," she said.

Rounds has a photo of President Barack Obama hanging on her living room wall. Obama was raised by his grandmother for a time. Rounds reached out to his staff when he was campaigning in 2008, and she has correspondence, including his support of her cause, as a keepsake.

The magic that Rounds captured to help grandparents didn't follow her to Las Vegas when she moved here in 2005.

Rounds is trying to organize a support group locally.

"There is help out there," she said. "I think it's good to come together and discuss some of their problems."

Rounds said she has familiarized herself with Nevada laws that assist grandparents. She is willing to form the group with as many or as few individuals as are interested.

Rounds said National Grandparents Day also is a time to "adopt" a senior as a grandparent and spend some time with him.

Grandmother of three and great-grandmother of three Judy Vorhees volunteers for senior events through AARP. She said grandparenthood is a great equalizer between she and her peers.

"It's a bonus of getting older," she said. "Every day is like Grandparents Day when you have grandchild."

Rounds said she plans to spend time with her son and granddaughters who live locally on the holiday. She called grandparenthood "heavenly."

"They're the center of my life," she said. "They do many things for me but they don't owe me anything."

Rounds' granddaughter Yanne Givens, 27, remembers the time when her cousins were in Rounds' care and said she looks up to her grandma's strength and perseverance.

"It's really admirable and not something everyone could do," she said. "She's been through a lot in her life."

Givens joked about whether they'll spend time together on Sunday.

"If she cooks, yes," she said.

"No matter who you are, your grandparents came first," Rounds said. "You can't get here without them."

For more information on the support group, call 733-0324.

Contact Centennial and Paradise/Downtown View reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@viewnews.com or 477-3839.