Going to visit my grandmother in Cordele is one of my favorite childhood memories.

In fact, I only remember two rules at her house. First, don’t fight with the pillows on the sofa. And second, don’t drink the last Coca-Cola.

That second rule was because she wanted to be sure there was at least one Coca-Cola in the refrigerator when she woke up in the morning. And she only drank Coca-Cola out of those old six-and-a-half-ounce glass bottles.

My grandmother started nearly every day of her life with one of those six-and-a-half-ounce jewels. As soon as her feet hit the floor in the morning, she headed straight for the refrigerator.

I don’t really know for how long my grandmother started each morning with a Coca-Cola, but I suspect it was for as long as she smoked unfiltered Camel cigarettes because I rarely saw her doing one without the other.

I also don’t know what would have happened if someone drank the last Coke because, to my knowledge, no one in the family was ever brave enough to try it. I suppose, though, that it’s possible I have a long-lost cousin who disappeared under mysterious circumstances after failing to heed the Last Coke Warning.

Back in those days, when you drank a Coke, you didn’t throw the empty glass bottle away. You put it back in the carton and returned it to the store where you got a credit on the refills.

Because my grandmother drank so many Coca-Colas, we’d fill the whole trunk of her Buick with empties before heading off to the Piggly Wiggly to get more. When we left the store, we had two buggies – one for groceries and one for Cokes.

You don’t see those six-and-a-half ounce glass bottles anymore. But for decades, there were only two ways to buy a Coca-Cola – in one of the six-and-a-half ounce bottles or in a glass from a soda fountain.

Then in 1955, Coke introduced larger-sized bottles. Five years later, Coke in cans was introduced. The six-and-a-half-ounce Cokes soon became harder to find as consumers preferred larger, disposable bottles over storing the empty glass ones to return to the store.

In fact, I wasn’t even aware the six-and-a-half ounce bottles were even made anymore. Then I read a news story last week. It’s a story I’m glad my grandmother didn’t live to see.

The last ever six-and-a-half ounce bottle of Coke was produced last week at the Winona Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Winona, Minn. The company was the last remaining bottler that produced the small, refillable bottles, something it had been doing since the plant opened in 1932 – 80 years ago.

The company’s last run produced about 5,900 bottles, which the company plans to sell to help raise money to repave walking and bike paths in Winona.

Today, I drink most of my Coca-Colas out of a can. I don’t particularly like it that way. I miss the old six-and-a-half-ounce bottles. I agree with my grandmother that Coke tasted better that way.

In fact, she preferred the older bottles with the raised glass lettering, not the newer bottles with the painted white lettering.

When my grandmother would come to Blakely to visit, we’d have to stock up on the six-and-a-half-ounce bottles. My mother would sit me in the soft drink aisle at the Piggly Wiggly, and it was my job to mix and match bottles until I got enough cartons of Coke bottles with the raised-glass lettering to supply us for my grandmother’s visit.

I’d love to get my hands on one of those last bottles. It would be a great reminder of my grandmother and a great reminder of another piece of Americana that had faded away.

Mitch Clarke is executive editor of The Times. His column appears Sundays. Read previous columns at gainesvilletimes.com/mitch.