On May 21 I was able to take the kids to my Aunt Pam's house to visit my Grandma one last time.
On June 5 my sweet Grandma passed away. We thought about her life and felt reverence for her example. She was truly stalwart and unmoving in her testimony. She had sure and certain faith, intense gratitude for her Savior, and a drive and passion to share her testimony that were hallmarks of her life. She served 3 missions, one with my Grandpa, and 2 after his passing. She gave out hundreds of pass along cards and Books of Mormon and shared the gospel fearlessly. We as her family shared with each other how we were often so embarrassed by her unabashedness, as she would get out a pamphlet or pass along card (which she would buy in bulk) to give to every cash register worker, waiter/waitress, or service person she met. A few of my cousins shared experiences of her going to give one to a waiter/waitress after a meal out together, and they would reply, "oh you gave me one of these last time ma'am." But we all were inspired to be a little more like her as others shared times when they heard her telling a woman working at Mcdonald's the Jesus loves her and they looked up to see the woman in tears, or a cash register worker covered in tattoos and huge gauges in his ears sincerely asking her if he should pray after he read the pamphlet she was giving him, or before.
She loved her family so much. I'll miss the way she would always say "I LOVE you" so intently, and how she would leave lipstick marks on all our cheeks from her kisses. We would always laugh and point at the marks.
She was intensely grateful for our country and one of the truest patriots I have ever known. I'll miss the way she sang with all her heart. Near the end of her life, during her last Christmas on earth, she was at a celebration with our family. She would often loudly break out into song. Her hearing was very poor at this point, and her once beautiful singing voice had lost much of it's strength and clarity with her age. During this last Christmas celebration, she was loudly singing a song out of time, tune, and the wrong words as our family sang a hymn. I'll never forget how afterwards Chris shared how special it was to him to see her as her world became darker, and less clear, how she still felt such happiness and exuberance as she sang 'Oh Holy Night' and remembered our Savior."
She had a very difficult childhood and struggles in her life including growing up working many hours in her family restaurant, being bullied as a minority, her family loosing everything due to a gambling addiction of her father's and she having to support her family at a young age, and struggles in her early marriage years. She is such an example to me of overcoming difficult circumstances and choosing what you make of your circumstances and not being a victim of them. She once told my cousin that one day as a young girl she looked in the mirror, and told herself that she wasn't going to do all the terrible things that had been done to her. My Grandma was a chain breaker. She was forgiving in the hardest of circumstances and never stopped moving forward. Because of her, I am so blessed and father ahead in my life than what could have possible been. She was good to her core and her goodness spilled over into my life in ways I will forever be grateful for. I'm so grateful for the foundations of faith, love, forgiveness, repentance, and perseverance that she was a key-point in building our family on.
On June 15 we laid her to rest. I love you Grandma. I'm so grateful to know where you are and that one day I will see you again. Thank you so much <3 <3 <3
Loud fighter jets were flying over the funeral towards the end. They must have been doing drills. It made us all smile knowing that our Grandma would have loved it!
