Grandma S Memories

Taken last Christmas 2015

As I was leaving for work this morning, my dad called to say that my Grandma S had passed away. She has been doing poorly for the past several weeks, so this isn't a surprise, but it is still sad. She will be missed!

I have a lot of favorite memories with Grandma. My favorite memories are actually moments when we got to have one-on-one visits together. The most recent one was a few years ago, during the fall of 2011. I had flown to Utah by myself, so I could speak at a conference at BYU, and I got to have a special visit with Grandma in her living room that same day. We chatted about a lot of things, but I particularly remember her chatting about my dad and expressing how she loves and understands him as a person. I think that is the last time that I was able to visit with her in her own house, which is why the memory stands out. I have distinct memories of other special visits too: I remember getting to have a sleepover in her basement when I was a teenager. I think that I was attending some type of summer camp at BYU for a day or two, and I got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa while I was in Utah Valley. That sleepover allowed me to have a special one-on-one visit with Grandma too: she took me around the house and showed me some special things that she inherited from different family members, and I thought that was really neat.

I distinctly remember going to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their home in New Orleans. I actually got some type of stomach bug while we were there, and I remember Grandma helping to take care of me. She even turned Mary Martin's "Peter Pan" on the television, so I could rest on the couch with a little bit of distraction. I really felt her love during that time, and I always think of Grandma when I think of that film adaption of "Peter Pan."

A lot of my memories of Grandma revolve around music. I have happy memories of getting to play piano duets with Grandma, or just having her listen while I played a song that I recently learned. I also remember going through her record collection with her, too. She told me about some of the different singers and albums, and even about what was happening in her life when she bought different records. Grandma and Grandpa were also really wonderful at supporting my musical activities, and I especially remember them coming to my choir concerts at BYU.

I will remember my grandma as a passionate, loving, outgoing person who enjoyed being involved in her family members' lives and her church community. I will remember her as a storyteller; she would often tell  her grandkids stories about her life or stories from the lives of her family members. She would tell us stories about her locket which was dented (I think it used to be Grammie's locket, and Grammie would bite on it as a child). I liked hearing stories about when she grew up in Kalispell, or when she moved to Minnesota with Grandpa and her children. She often liked to tell me and my siblings about how once, in 1955, the airlines workers at the new Denver airport stopped the airplane on the runway so that my grandma could board with my dad (who was just a few weeks old) and my aunt (who was a toddler). 

I will cherish the memory of our last telephone conversation, which was on her birthday this year, when she turned 89. I was surprised that Grandma answered the phone, since she didn't always get to her phone in time and I usually couldn't reach her that way. But she answered on her birthday and we had a nice chat. As usual, she was loving and sweet. We talked about Kalispell and about some of her relatives that used to live in Washington State. I will miss things about calling her, especially to hear her say, "Yes, dear!" after I would identify myself on the phone.

I will remember her as the grandma who had a marble run toy, a gumball machine, and the softest toilet paper in her bathroom. (My cousin A and I used to joke that it had to be at least four-ply!) I will remember her as the grandma who mailed us Mardi Gras beads and a King Cake, as well as a the Cajun Night Before Christmas book. She was also a maker and a doer: I have a cross-stitched image of my name that she made when I was a young girl, and my family has a cross-stitched display of our family members represented by various bears (which she made in the '90s, probably before my sister E was born). Grandma also designed fancy birthday banners for her grandchildren with her computer. In retrospect, I'm especially nostalgic for there, since they were made with the classic 1990s home computer printer. We would string these banners across the mantle of our living room, whenever it was someone's birthday.

I will remember her as the grandma who visited my third-grade class: Grandma was tickled that my teacher, Mrs. Suer, said that she could tell that Grandma and I were related to each other because we looked alike with our blue eyes. And speaking of us looking alike, Grandma also kept a photo of us that Grandpa took, which was from more or less this same time - I was probably around nine or ten. The photo is taken from behind, and we are turned away from the camera: Grandma and I both are leaning over and scrubbing out the bottom of a bathtub together, although Grandma is wearing green pants and I don't have any pants on (I think I was getting ready for a bath). I think Grandpa took the picture because of the cute compositional similarity, but Grandma used to joke with me that maybe there is a familial resemblance with our backsides, too!

I will remember my grandma in her role as a great-grandma: she always wanted to make sure that her great-grandchildren received a gingerbread house at Christmastime. When we visited her last December, the first thing she said to Sam was, "Hello, Sam! I'm the Gingerbread Grandma!"

I feel lucky to have known grandma and to have been influenced by her. More than anything, I will remember our love for each other. I hope to have a lasting influence on my family in the way that grandma had one on me.