Posted on 01/17/2012 4:20:55 PM PST by stevie_d_64
There are times in one’s life that a person is inspired to write down recollections, experiences and events in their lives, when someone who was behind a lot of your recollections, experiences and events passes away…
My grandmother, Gertrude Payne Williams passed away this afternoon in Tyler, Texas after almost 97 years on this earth…I was the first of 9 grandchildren who was to be rightfully subjected to a realistic and conservative counsel, that is now complete…We will not have her wit, her drive and her wisdom to counsel us anymore…What we have is what we take for the rest of our lives, and we need to remember, cherish and protect that wisdom, handed down from the years of the depression (a real depression), through World War II, and many other significant events this country and its citizens experienced over a very interesting time in our history…
I am very glad, yet grieving that I will not hear her voice for a while to come, and that I hope I live to be able to give some of that advice and wisdom to someone else before I depart this life, this gift that gave me the privilege to be a part of a family, a community and country that still clings to God and guns…Our Christian faith that gave us so many Sundays to show our appreciation and adoration to Christ and out Father who really wanted us to live life to its fullest, and hand down these values to future generations…
My Grandmother lived a very long and productive life, she always made a point on my visits to her to tell me how proud she was of my accomplishments, and those of my siblings and cousins of our generation, but with always a guarded sense of reality, to never take things for granted, make your own way, rely on yourself, and teach others to do the same…
To that end I don’t think I ever had a liberal bone in my body…Thanks to her, I can carry on a legacy of conservative values no one can ever question or take away…
Sure, I’m very sad, I feel mostly an urgency to try to remember the things she taught me, but I have to remember that it’s still there in the things I do, and the way I carry myself, and try to encourage others in my family, and where I work and my friends to keep it real, and remember what our elders taught us…
I’m glad she passed away quickly and without any pain…I truly feel awful for my Dad, I’ve only seen or heard him cry twice in my 47 years on this earth…And today was the second time…
We have a couple of days to reflect on my grandmother and her life…And I felt it soothing, comforting to be able to write down these initial feelings for other Friends to see and somehow draw some inspiration from these generalities…Most didn’t meet her, but I am sure she was like a lot of other grandmothers who loved life and those with her during her time here…I hope she is looking on me with the same scrutiny that kept me in line(mostly), and will keep giving me that little tweek on the cheek when I screw up in the future…
The last time I saw her, she was telling me goodbye last Thanksgiving…I talked to her at great length about our future and that she said she would hang around just long enough to vote one more time this next November…Well, sometimes things never work out the way YOU plan them too…
I definitely need to cry a little, then smile and laugh a little…The time for that silliness, will be soon, but the pain is right now, and we need to let it sink in and turn into something else which sustains us, gives us renewed purpose…
Because…
It is what she would want me to do…And I am certainly NOT going to disappoint her!!!
Condolences on your loss. May she rest in peace.
Very sweet and kind of you to do this. Sounds like she was a remarkable woman and I’m sorry for your loss.
Thank you for posting this lovely tribute. May she rest in peace.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.