My dad's mother had fiery red hair and everyone loved her, she taught herself how to drive after her husband passed away when my dad was 17 and drove without a license for almost 15 years until someone hit her pulling out of the grocery store and they made her get a license.
She had a farmhouse full of junk and cool stuff she found in secondhand shops, she loved to do crafts, and had a child-like curiosity about everything, she was a lot of fun. She was also partially color blind and painted the ceiling in the kitchen bright red one time thinking it was pink.
My mom's mother made awesome chicken noodle soup, drank beer and could swear in Hungarian. She loved flowers and had an enormous flower garden for many years until they moved to an apartment. She never drove and rarely left the house, couldn't smell very well and used a lot of perfume and put mothballs everywhere.
Unfortunately she was also a bit of a nag, and I never felt like I "made the grade" with her. My grandfather made up the difference though. My mom and her were never very close and it showed. She had a tough life though, and given the circumstances I don't know if I could have done as well as she did.