Ellen Corby will forever be remembered as Grandma Esther on The Waltons. She appeared on the show through most of its run, even persevering after suffering a severe stroke in 1976. She was also in the TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, which aired first and was then developed into the show. No other adult actors crossed over from the original movie to the series.

While she was certainly a talented actress, winning three Emmys for her role on The Waltons, acting wasn’t her only passion. She also enjoyed writing and telling stories. She worked on movie scripts in the 1930s and ‘40s and received story credit on two Waltons episodes, The Separation and The Search.

She also wrote an “autobiography” about a traveling pebble called The Pebble of Gibraltar. Except it’s not her autobiography, it’s “as told to Ellen Corby” by the pebble – according to the book’s cover.

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In reality, it’s a fun, educational novel about a little rock that travels around southern Europe, visiting Spain, France and Italy. The inside cover proclaims “a uniquely imaginative allegory with many perceptive, humorous, and historical treasures among its pages.”

Though she started writing it in the early 1970s, it wasn’t officially published until 1988. The book was inspired by her love of travel. She enjoyed visiting Morocco, India and many other places around the world. Who knew homebody Grandma Walton was played by such an avid wanderer!