Grandma

My grandma, Mary Emily Hunt, was born in a little town in 1917. Imagine - 1917 - so many changes since then!

My grandma lived to be 97. She lived in the same house since the '40s - raised all her 10 kids there, and then helped her grandkids there and her great-great-grandkids too. I've been going to that house since I was teeny.

The whole family

When I was a kid we used to sit on her front porch and shell fresh peas from her large garden (the garden was bigger than her house). My cousins and I spent hours out on the grass, in the sandbox, and in her jewelry and old shirts. We sat at the same round table for decades, eating peas and potato soup, frozen jarred peaches, and fresh raspberries over vanilla ice cream from the local dairy.

Grandma's house, along with some of her young kids

I don't remember my grandma before she was gray haired and a little stooped. She used to take grandkids in for a week at a time to give Mom a break. I'm sure back then Grandma was much more energetic and probably not even gray-haired, though I don't remember it.

The woman I remember looked out behind glasses and wore hearing aids and polyester pants. She spent hours on family history, served expired ketchup, and filled her counters with trinkets and near-empty bottles of lotion. She also, though, was amazingly spry - still picking raspberries, still watering the flowers and participating in local Senior Citizen stuff.

She filled so well the role of grandma. She didn't let an opportunity go by without giving a grandkid a hug and telling them they're so special, with a husky, drawn-out, over-emphasized special. Even though it was over the top I know we all loved it.

My grandma also never let an opportunity go by without sharing her belief in Jesus Christ and something about an ancestor. That pretty much sums it up: love for her family, love for Christ, and love for family history. That was Grandma in her core. I'm indebted to that foundation that helped piece together my foundation.

Thank you Grandma. Thank you so much.

Now the sad part is my grandma passed away Sept 2nd. She filled a full life so it's definitely more celebrative than sad, but I couldn't be there with all of the family to celebrate! Many people sent me pictures though, so here they are.

First, the beautiful funeral program:

 

 

Wanted on the Other Side was special to my grandma because it was sung at the funeral of her little brother, who died as an infant when my grandma was four years old.

Here's the music for that song (from a book about Grandma's life that I put together several years ago):

All her living children (9 out of 10) at the viewing:

My pretty grandma:

At the cemetery:

Grandma's timeline: