So, I am writing this mostly for my sake so bare with me. So, my Grandma on my fathers side, my last living grandparent, died this past week. She was 92 years old. I have really been struggling with the fact that I won't be able to make it to her funeral. I have tried many scenarios but it doesn't seem like it will work out. This has been leading me to think about what she would do and want me to do, which has lead me to do a lot of thinking about her and what kind of women she was. She of course would say not to worry myself and not come. She was a very practical women being raised during the depression. I complain about being poor....we are sooooo blessed compared to the lifestyle she lived as a child. We really take what we have for granted and think we need things that we can actually do without. Many a times I would find myself thinking about what people did in the past and I would ask my grandmother about it. I have to say they struggled much more than I ever have. So anyway I had grown very close to my grandmother over my whole life but especially this past few years living in Utah. I grew up so far away from all my grandparents that I felt like I hardly knew them, though my grandmother was a great letter writer and I would receive and write her letters often. I loved learning about her life through them. When I moved to Utah and my parents moved into her home in Wyoming I got to know her much more. When I stayed in Wyoming for a semester I felt it helped my understand her more by experiencing where she grew up. I discovered that we had the same favorite book. Aside from the scriptures of course, our favorite book was Gone With the Wind. My grandmother served a mission in Ga., and other southern states, and was there at the time of the movie release of Gone With the Wind. I will never forget about the way she talked about how handsome Clark Gable was. I found her original copy of the book in her home and
she let me have it! Grandma had a great memory and kept very good record. Once Ryan and I went through her old photo albums she had made from her mission and other various times with her and she told us all about stories behind the pictures and things she did on her mission. I wish I would have written them down sooner because I have forgotten most. My favorite story about her mission experience was when she met my grandfather. Things were so different then. She met him in the training center. They wrote while they were on their missions and when grandpa came home she met him and they drove with only their parents (if I remember correctly) to the Mesa, AZ temple. No big reception or dress or a million pictures just got married. In the next few days my grandfather left for WWII. She told me the story of when my Uncle Robert was born when I was pregnant and Ryan was away and I wasn't sure if he would be there for his sons birth or not. She said that grandpa had leave when he was due but Robert decided not to come until the day after my grandfather h
ad left. Of course Ryan didn't make it Jack's birth either. Such is the life of being a soldiers wife. Grandma's biggest joy in her life was he family. She was a proud wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. She always said if I knew having great grandchildren was this fun I would have done that first. She would always inquire about my children when we came to visit. She would always ask if I was breastfeeding. I always told her yes of course and she would say "good, good I think that is best for babies." Of course I agree with her. She loved to watch Caroline play and sing as she got older. On one occasion when I was visiting with her with Caroline just recently Caroline was singing and doing some nursery rhymes and Grandma commented, "That just tickles me to see her sing those nursery rhymes." You could see the joy in her face as she watched her. I know the joy I feel when my children accomplish and do things, but I can't imagine when it is my grandchildren and great grandchildren. She had 5 sons, 17 grandchildren, about 30 great grandchildren and counting, and 1 great great grandchild. I couldn't imagine what it would be like t
o live and see your posterity grow that much. All of those people came from her and she lived to see it. Grandma lived the last several years of her life in a few assisted living homes. I called them dorms for old people, except much nicer living conditions. I had just come to college and could see all the similarities. It was a place structured so that it was a little community for everyone living there and gave them the chance to interact with each other much like the dorms do for college students. And grandma was the socialite of the Seville. She knew almost everyone's name and would introduce us to everyone every time we came to visit. She was so proud to show off her family. She had a group friends she always sat with for meals one of which included my sister-in-laws grandmother who only passed a year ago. I so admired her ability to socialize and know everyone and I strive to be better at that. She had a very good quality of life and I could tell she really enjoyed herself. She always did her visiting teaching!!! All the other things I will remember about my grandmother are that she loved the color green, she loved big flower prints as she spent several years in the south pacific with my grandfather on a mission, she rarely wore pants, refused to use a vegetable peeler, she was thrifty and practical, but loved a good joke and to laugh and was a great cook. She was raised on a dairy farm and says its the reason she had such good bones. She loved Ryan...probably more than me...and they would talk about everything and she always heard everything he said though he talks softer than anyone I know. She loved the gospel and served endlessly. Because of her faithfulness we have the chance to be an eternal family. She is a wonderful example to me and I know she has left an impression in not only our family but many peoples lives. I am so grateful for the legacy she leaves me and my children. I will miss her so much and am so grateful for the time I had to visit her though it was short. I didn't know that the last time I saw her would be the last and that she was so close to the end, so I am grateful that we took the time to see her every week. I know it was her time to go and she had been waiting. I hardly have anything to be sad about. She lived a great and full life right until the end, and now she is with the person she has been missing for the past 15 years and loves the most! I know she is happy and that one day I too will see her again.
So, I am writing this mostly for my sake so bare with me. So, my Grandma on my fathers side, my last living grandparent, died this past week. She was 92 years old. I have really been struggling with the fact that I won't be able to make it to her funeral. I have tried many scenarios but it doesn't seem like it will work out. This has been leading me to think about what she would do and want me to do, which has lead me to do a lot of thinking about her and what kind of women she was. She of course would say not to worry myself and not come. She was a very practical women being raised during the depression. I complain about being poor....we are sooooo blessed compared to the lifestyle she lived as a child. We really take what we have for granted and think we need things that we can actually do without. Many a times I would find myself thinking about what people did in the past and I would ask my grandmother about it. I have to say they struggled much more than I ever have. So anyway I had grown very close to my grandmother over my whole life but especially this past few years living in Utah. I grew up so far away from all my grandparents that I felt like I hardly knew them, though my grandmother was a great letter writer and I would receive and write her letters often. I loved learning about her life through them. When I moved to Utah and my parents moved into her home in Wyoming I got to know her much more. When I stayed in Wyoming for a semester I felt it helped my understand her more by experiencing where she grew up. I discovered that we had the same favorite book. Aside from the scriptures of course, our favorite book was Gone With the Wind. My grandmother served a mission in Ga., and other southern states, and was there at the time of the movie release of Gone With the Wind. I will never forget about the way she talked about how handsome Clark Gable was. I found her original copy of the book in her home and 
she let me have it! Grandma had a great memory and kept very good record. Once Ryan and I went through her old photo albums she had made from her mission and other various times with her and she told us all about stories behind the pictures and things she did on her mission. I wish I would have written them down sooner because I have forgotten most. My favorite story about her mission experience was when she met my grandfather. Things were so different then. She met him in the training center. They wrote while they were on their missions and when grandpa came home she met him and they drove with only their parents (if I remember correctly) to the Mesa, AZ temple. No big reception or dress or a million pictures just got married. In the next few days my grandfather left for WWII. She told me the story of when my Uncle Robert was born when I was pregnant and Ryan was away and I wasn't sure if he would be there for his sons birth or not. She said that grandpa had leave when he was due but Robert decided not to come until the day after my grandfather h
ad left. Of course Ryan didn't make it Jack's birth either. Such is the life of being a soldiers wife. Grandma's biggest joy in her life was he family. She was a proud wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. She always said if I knew having great grandchildren was this fun I would have done that first. She would always inquire about my children when we came to visit. She would always ask if I was breastfeeding. I always told her yes of course and she would say "good, good I think that is best for babies." Of course I agree with her. She loved to watch Caroline play and sing as she got older. On one occasion when I was visiting with her with Caroline just recently Caroline was singing and doing some nursery rhymes and Grandma commented, "That just tickles me to see her sing those nursery rhymes." You could see the joy in her face as she watched her. I know the joy I feel when my children accomplish and do things, but I can't imagine when it is my grandchildren and great grandchildren. She had 5 sons, 17 grandchildren, about 30 great grandchildren and counting, and 1 great great grandchild. I couldn't imagine what it would be like t
o live and see your posterity grow that much. All of those people came from her and she lived to see it. Grandma lived the last several years of her life in a few assisted living homes. I called them dorms for old people, except much nicer living conditions. I had just come to college and could see all the similarities. It was a place structured so that it was a little community for everyone living there and gave them the chance to interact with each other much like the dorms do for college students. And grandma was the socialite of the Seville. She knew almost everyone's name and would introduce us to everyone every time we came to visit. She was so proud to show off her family. She had a group friends she always sat with for meals one of which included my sister-in-laws grandmother who only passed a year ago. I so admired her ability to socialize and know everyone and I strive to be better at that. She had a very good quality of life and I could tell she really enjoyed herself. She always did her visiting teaching!!! All the other things I will remember about my grandmother are that she loved the color green, she loved big flower prints as she spent several years in the south pacific with my grandfather on a mission, she rarely wore pants, refused to use a vegetable peeler, she was thrifty and practical, but loved a good joke and to laugh and was a great cook. She was raised on a dairy farm and says its the reason she had such good bones. She loved Ryan...probably more than me...and they would talk about everything and she always heard everything he said though he talks softer than anyone I know. She loved the gospel and served endlessly. Because of her faithfulness we have the chance to be an eternal family. She is a wonderful example to me and I know she has left an impression in not only our family but many peoples lives. I am so grateful for the legacy she leaves me and my children. I will miss her so much and am so grateful for the time I had to visit her though it was short. I didn't know that the last time I saw her would be the last and that she was so close to the end, so I am grateful that we took the time to see her every week. I know it was her time to go and she had been waiting. I hardly have anything to be sad about. She lived a great and full life right until the end, and now she is with the person she has been missing for the past 15 years and loves the most! I know she is happy and that one day I too will see her again. 
That was a very nice tribute, Charlotte. Grandma surely was a wonderful woman and will be missed by all. We lived so close and didn't visit as often as we should've, but we did see her around the week before Christmas. She is definitely very proud of her great grandchildren. We are all blessed to have had her in our lives.
ReplyDelete