Grandma Wright's Funeral

My Grandma Wright passed away on St. Patrick's Day at Kathy's house in South Weber.  She had developed Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), and it didn't seem like it came on very long after Grandpa passed away in 2012, and she went downhill fairly quickly.  Besides it being a progressive neuro disease, I think she missed my Grandpa severely, and had missed Angie for many years, and her will to live wasn't quite there.  Once her quality of life started to decrease and simple things like walking and eating became difficult, it didn't take long for her to move into Kathy's house and she passed away only a few days later.  

It still hasn't quite hit me that my grandparents are gone.  I can still picture what they'd be doing right now. I'm writing this post at 11:51pm; my grandma might be scooping ice cream, my grandpa would be sitting in his office playing solitaire or a similar game on his computer, waiting till midnight when he can take his heart medication before heading to bed.  It still hasn't hit me that they won't be there to visit with every time we head to and from Boise.   (We always made it a point to stop and say hi, use the restroom, and we usually ended up staying an hour or two.)  They won't be at the farm when we arrive for every family reunion.  They won't plan money egg hunts for Easter or Christmas pizza parties, both designed for us older grandkids.  They were such fun grandparents.  Almost all of my vacation memories from my childhood revolved around driving to Ogden from Denver and going boating at Willard Bay or Bear Lake, playing in the grove, riding horses through the fields, making graham cracker gingerbread houses, 4-wheeling at the farm, eating ice cream late at night and sleeping on the couch downstairs so I could watch CMT (country music videos) till 2am because we didn't have cable at home, riding on the tractors with grandpa, running errands with grandma... 

These are the only pictures I have of my Grandma with Tyce, and the last with Shad.  We stopped to visit on our way through to the farm for a reunion last summer.  Grandma wasn't quite feeling up to venturing up there that year.   

Her funeral was on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at the Lindquist North Ogden Mortuary, with a very small closed viewing the night before.  (Which was exactly how she wanted it.)  

Funerals are never easy, but knowing my grandma was free from physical restraints and pains and with grandpa, Angie, her parents, etc helps tremendously.

It's always great to get together with cousins, no matter the occasion...

Back: Colby Bentley, Megan Miller, Hailee Wright, Jacob Brunhardt, Me, Chelsea Withers, Faith McArthur, Aubrey Freeman, Ashlyn Reddington, Nate

Front: Mandie Bentley, Ty Winston, Megan McArthur, Gretchen, Brad Withers

Graveside dedication followed the funeral at Ben Lomond Cemetary, next to Grandpa and Angie.

Luncheon afterwards

Sure love and miss these guys!  I've appreciated the chance to look back on some of my favorite pictures of them:

Grandpa and Me

Me with G & G, 1986

Winter 2004/2005

The ad my Grandpa posted at Smith and Edwards

Reading the Christmas book Grandma bought for Shad

They always treated us to the Ranch Hand.  This was at a reunion, July 2008

At our wedding reception in Meridian, May 2008

Christmas Party 2009

My BYU Graduation.  (I finished Dec 08' but walked April 2009)

Grandma's Birthday at Kathy's 2013 (after Grandpa had passed)

 Girls Night!  Grandma treated us all to dinner at Olive Garden, and then we made bracelets and watches at her house, after which some of us slept over.  August 2010

Christmas Party 2013.  Grandma always got down on the floor and played games with us!

Holding Shad in the hospital when he was born, March 2011

After the funeral we spent time at my grandparent's house going through heirlooms, furniture, cleaning out the sheds, etc.

My dad just has the magic touch with babies.  Maybe it's his calm and gentle soul and persona, but I've rarely seen a tired baby not fall asleep on his shoulder!

I made a point to ride on the tailgate with Shad down the road to the shed, just like I used to as a kid on my grandpa's truck down the lane.

 I got very lucky!  I inherited Grandma's fancy sewing machine!
No one else was interested in grandma's fancy sewing machine!  I've had my mom's old Bernina from the 60's or 70's for years, and now I have my grandma's newer Bernina, that does all kinds of stitches and embroidery, among other things!  

On Sunday we went over to Kathy and Drew's for dinner...

...And had fun playing Bocce Ball.

I caught Shad saying a prayer on his own in the basement bedroom up on Angie's old bunk bed.  So cute.

 Love seeing my kids enjoying the same nostalgic activities that I used to do as a kid; Nate and I used to stand on this same deck and watch the trains, counting all the cars as they drove by.

Helping clean...

And doing puzzles with Nana

I thought I'd end here with a copy of the talk I wrote for Grandma's funeral:

One of my favorite parts of Grandpa’s funeral was Megan’s talk, when she re-capped all of our favorite memories of him.  So I thought that I’d share some of my favorite memories of Grandma, even if that meant that there would be some repeats since we’re all taking a turn up here. J  Since Grandpa passed I haven’t really felt like Grandma was quite herself, and then when she was diagnosed with PSP and her struggles increased, I knew how hard it was for her, with her active go-go-go personality to be forced to move slow and sit still. I had a hard time picturing her that way.  But almost instantaneously after I got the call that she has passed away, the image in my mind transformed back to my smiling fun energetic Grandma.  I’m so glad that 27 of my 28 ½ years of memories are of her like that, and that I can keep those memories forever.  It is near impossible to cover that lifetime of memories in just a few minutes, but I CAN share a few of those highlights.

First thing I did when I found out that Grandma had left this life was to get on the computer and look at pictures of her.  In every one I found she was smiling and spending time with her grandkids.  I couldn’t help but sit there and smile too as the memories flooded back.

 As a little kid I always knew that going to Grandma and Grandpa Wright’s meant staying up late, eating ice cream- whether that meant out of a carton, drumsticks from Schwans, or ice cream bars, Grandma never failed to have ice cream on hand.  We always got to sleep on the hide-a-bed or couches and watch movies as late as we wanted. 

Sometimes when we’d come to visit during the school year I would get to go to school with Grandma.  I think there were a few times when I was close to the age she was teaching that I would get to stay in her class all day.  She loved introducing me to all her friends and fellow teachers and it always made me feel special!

Our Grandma loved throwing parties and celebrating holidays.  Because we lived in Denver for most of my childhood, we weren’t able to visit for every holiday or make it for every party.  So even from eight hours and a state away we knew she was including us in her celebrations by sending us fun holiday boxes, with candy, stickers, little toys, or whatever was appropriate and fun for that particular holiday.  And I know just where my mom and aunt got their knack for holiday decorating!

My Grandma didn’t just love to throw parties, she loved to participate too.  I remember as a younger kid watching how insanely fast she and Megan would play speed card games.  Eventually I was old enough to finally coordinate my hands and brain to play too.  She participated in the pick-up-the-paper-bag-with-just-your-mouth-game a few years ago, and even got down on the ground and played spoons with us Christmas before last.  She also loved to do door prizes and prizes for winners at her Christmas parties.  One year, when we were all college-ish age, Shae, Megan, Mandie, and I tied for a game so she made us stand back while she threw the prize and watched us all dive and fight for it.  I remember her just full-on laughing out loud at us.  Her parties were always a blast. 

I also remember one year in particular when Grandma decided to have a “Girls Night.”  She treated all of us grand-daughters and grand-daughter-in-laws to Olive Garden and then had all the supplies to make our own custom bead watches.  We had junk food and lots of laughs. 

Grandma did her best to make each of her grandkids feel special.  She was always genuinely interested in our lives and always wanted to hear about what was going on.  I always hauled my scrapbooks from Boise or BYU to her house just because I knew she would ask about them and would want to look through them.  And she never acted bored- I really think she loved every picture, event, and attribute of our lives.

Even though I’ve lived more than an hour away from Pleasant View for the majority of my life, my grandparents still made the effort to show they cared.  They drove down to Springville to see Shad in the hospital when he was born, came to his blessing, and even his first few birthday parties.  I remember them coming to Boise now and then just to catch a soccer game or wrestling match.  They truly enjoyed watching their grandkids perform!

This talk has kind of turned into memories of both Grandma and Grandpa, but I think that’s appropriate.  They loved to spoil us together.  And they really loved to have fun.  Depending on the year, they either had a boat with the infamous water weenie that they loved flipping us around on at Willard Bay or Bear Lake, or snowmobiles, horses, or 4-wheelers that we’d ride through their fields or at the farm.  Though they used them all themselves, I’m pretty confident they purchased each with their grandkids in mind! 

Since moving to Provo for school in 2004 I’ve lived close enough to attend more family gatherings and build closer relationships with my cousins and grandparents.  I’ve been so grateful for that, and I’ve always wished my brothers could have done the same.  I’ve loved the chance to stop and get a hug and visit for a few minutes on every trip to and from Boise.  I never got used to Grandpa not being there, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of no pit-stop in Ogden, complete with hugs and either a trip to Subway or frozen cookies, ice cream, or a candy jar raid for the road.  Change is hard.  But this kind of change always reminds me of the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation.  I was raised with this knowledge and now that our grandparents have moved on, or “graduated” as my Jeff’s grandparents used to say, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will see my grandma, and my grandpa, again. 

As a kid my mom used to show me this picture and tell me that this was Angie and I in the pre-earth life, and that she was pointing down to earth, to this family that I was going to be joining.  I’ve always loved this picture for that reason, and I am so excited to meet her someday.  When Grandpa died Grandma not only missed him tremendously, but had a hard time knowing that he got to hold Angie again.  Knowing that she now has that chance helps to bring even more comfort and peace.  I sure love you Grandma!