Here are some images

Good news. You have very hardy plants ... which should be quite easy to grow and to make look their best.

You really have (3) plants in that pot. Two look to be the same (darker leaved) variety, with one variety with lighter leaves.

At the least, you will want to move each of these plants from the the larger pot ... to their own individual pot of no more than 4" in diameter. Move them just like you would do with an outdoors plant. Use a small spade (or large spoon) to scoop out each plant with as much of the roots for each that you can. I would advise using plastic pots to start ... with 4 or more drainage holes in the bottoms.

Settle the plants in their new pots. Try to use as much new African Violet soil as possible to freshen the soil. Add about a tablespoon of Pearlite to the soil so that the plant roots can breathe. You can get African Violet soil and Pearlite from your local hardware ... or you can order both on Ebay.

After you repot your plants, they should look something like this ...

You don't want to press the soil too tightly. Keep it as loose as possible so that the fine African Violet roots can grow through the media.

Once your plants are in their new pots, water them ONLY when the soil becomes dry. Give them light from a sunny window (about a foot from the window) ... of use fluorescent or LED bulbs in a common desk lamp. If you're using lamps for light, give the plants about 10 hours per day.

Fluorescent CFL bulb

Standard desk lamp

After a month or so, begin to add a small amount of African Violet fertilizer to your water when you water them, ... about half of the recommended dosing. You can get African Violet fertilizer on Ebay, as well. I use Jack's Classic African Violet fertilizer.

If you do these things, your grandmother's African Violets will regain their potential glory in a few months.

Good growing ...

Hi Dana. I completely agree with Aegis1000. I would only suggest that you add even more perlite to your potting mix, as most mixes that you find in stores are really too heavy, even if they say they are for African violets. I would go up to almost 50% perlite. Also, when you repot, if the roots seem very wet, you could dry them a bit by gently pressing them with paper towels. More violets are killed by overwatering than anything else. That's another reason to increase the amount of perlite in yiour potting soil, which will lighten it. Finally, if any of the 3 plants are limp after repotting, I suggest you put them in a clear plastic bag for a few weeks which will increase the surrounding humidity. I use the kind you have to close with a twist tie. Good luck, and keep us posted.

I would suggest taking a few of the leaves that still look healthy off to root them in their own pots of soil. Then you will hopefully have "backup" plants just in case something goes wrong and you lose the mother plants.

This site has some info on how to do it: https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/grow-african-violet/

Hear hear!

I would get rid of coconut coir and never use it on inside plants. EVER. Liners for summer baskets - fine. It is bad in a long run and can be saturated with salt - since the process of extracting the "meat" out of the coconuts for cosmetic industry uses salt water. Summer plants - they only last for summer and will perish from frost before coir does significant damage.

DBarron and Judy gave you excellent advice, an idea of putting down a leaf or 2 from both types of plants is very useful. But what I would wish - your wonderful Grandmother's legacy - is not in these plants - but in her green thumb and a desire to create beauty in her home with living blooming plants. Holding to her things is not as important as enjoying the same hobby she had. If you have it in you - and I believe you do - you will learn. You will be interested digging through Internet, finding books - usually libraries carry at least one or 2, Amazon has some - I love books by Melvin Robey because the are very practical.

Your plants are quite salvageable, repotting them into smaller individual pots with light soil - you got it all explained above = and not overwatering - will revive them.

Good luck!

I.

PS Only and if absolutely nothing else helps - we read a manual. Get a good book!

My mother was a magician with violets. She always kept eggshells in water and only used that to water them. Maybe old fashioned, but it seemed to work for her. Good luck, and how wonderful that you are honoring your grandma.

Best explanation I have heard for this in years. Thanks Irina!!!! Rosie