In Memory of my Grammie

To many, she was known as Evy. To me, she was the fabulous lady that I was blessed to call my Grammie for the last almost 31 years. She lived to be almost 97 years old and inspired many along the way, with her joyful laughter, persistence, red lipstick, and love for God and for all of us. That love, that's what Grammie was all about.  And even now as she remains in our hearts and minds as a memory, it is that love that she gave that remains.

We had the memorial service for Grammie last Friday.  Family traveled from all around the United States to gather in Charleston, South Carolina to celebrate her life. I had told my aunt in advance that I wanted to read something at the memorial - that I didn't think I could just speak from my heart like I had at my Papa's funeral, as I knew I needed to hold myself together to a certain extent if I did not want to experience definite catastrophe with my 3 kids present.  Because if mama starts crying, they surely would have all started up too! Even so, my plan was not perfect, but it is the best I could think of that I could still honor my Grammie and keep my kids emotions to a minimum.

I told my Aunt Polly that I needed some thing to read.  Her and my dad had been looking through my Grammies things and found a journal from about 15 years ago, and the first entry in it was perfect.  It encompassed everything Grammie was to all of us -thankful, joyful, silly, loyal to her husband, loving mother, and so much more.  It worked out that Emily fell asleep in the car and transferred into the sling, so I kept her in the ring sling asleep on my chest while I read from Gram's journal.  As I read, I could hear Grammie's voice and how she would have read this journal out loud, and evidently that transferred to how I read it because I had many tell me I "sounded just like Evy" reading it. Despite my best laid plans, I sat down to Ina, who was sobbing in a puddle of tears and cried out in her sweet little 4 year old voice, "But I wanted to invite Grammie to my next birthday party and now she can't come!!" She continued to cry a bit and Rob and I took turns passing her and Emily, who was awakened from Ina's crying,  back and forth. After the service Ina told Rob that she should have gotten to talk about Grammie on stage too just like the other grandkids did too. I was honored for Grammie that two of my cousins got up and spoke to remember Grammie after I was done. Their sweet stories touched my children especially who have known Grammie only too briefly!

Grammie's journal pages that I read:

"My Gratitude Book: 

6/97 Grateful for Pete and Polly. Appreciate calls from them since we are far apart. 

Thank you, God, for my life and my longevity. Mother died at 72+. Lois died at 72+. Most of my aunts on the Kheil side died in their 60's. 

Thank you for a home and beds and clean linens. 

Grateful for a wash machine and dryer. 

Grateful for a car to take me where we want to go. 

Grateful that Johnny is such a wonderful driver. 

Thank you Lord for being there for me. For giving your life on the cross for me! Thank you Jesus for being my best friend. 

Grateful for many friends who care about me. 

Grateful for friends at the church. 

I'm grateful for good food, fruits grown in California. 

I'm grateful for all the gifts we've received down through the years. 
25th anniversary - Silver. 
50th anniversary - Gold. 
Birthday gifts
Christmas gifts
Mothers day
Fathers day
Other anniversaries

I'm grateful for the great weather we have in Southern California. 

We love the ocean view from our condo. 

We're thankful for being able to have and drive decent cars. 

We're grateful for being able to buy and use our Lawrence Welk time share which we have owned for 8 years. We've been able to share the timeshare with family and friends. We were able to celebrate or 50th anniversary there with friends and family. What a great time and we will be forever grateful for that time - Nov. 18. 1945. 

One of the things I am most thankful for is that Johnny has saved us thousands of dollars by being able and capable of repairing everything. He is mechanically inclined so is also able to take care of cars except for large problems. I'm talking about stoves, refrigerators, washers, dryers, toilets, some plumbing, disposals, etc. In Illinois, he took care of the yard, the garden, sewers, etc. 

Pete was a big help in the yard when we were in Ill. We were able to save a lot of money because Pete and Polly did a lot in and out of the house. Shoveling snow was a big chore in Northbrook, Ill. One of the jobs I also helped with. Thanks to God for good health. - 1970s and 1980s."

Ina was very excited to share all of the strawberry jam she made with Grammie's recipe.  I made a brief announcement at the reception, telling everyone that it was Grammie's recipe, and that one of my memories whenever we visited her was having her homemade strawberry jam on English muffins every morning. We sent everyone home with at least one jar so that they could experience that memory of Grammie again. :) I got asked thousands of times by Ina on this trip if I remembered the jam. Yes, dear, I remembered!

One really neat thing that Grammie did for every grandchild, (all 7 of us!), is she kept boxes of memories from the time that we were born all the way until a few years ago, in addition to a "Grandmother Remembers" book with the Mathews family history and memories from Grammie and Papa's early lives. My box had some cool things like a newspaper article I was in with my Grammie, my first dance recital program, even some art work that joey had given her when we had come to visit when he was 2 or 3, printed out copies of emails I had sent them. It was really sweet to receive this box of memories.  They were my memories too, but it was different as these were all her memories of me from her perspective.  She told us all that she had prayed daily for us, but "only since the day we were born." lol :) I really love this idea and I would love it if my mom or my mother in law did this for our children to have one day.

All in all, it was very nice to have all of the Froehlich and Mathews gathered together to celebrate her life.  I enjoyed looking through the many well organized and labeled photos from my Grammie's life - I even found out that they went on vacation to Jacksonville early in their marriage and found that my Ina looks identical to my Grammie's sister, Lois. We are all excited for the new babies that are joining our family this year - Dream and Carver are expecting a baby boy in July, and us expecting another sweet baby in November. Sharing the joy of babies on the way with family who were truly excited was a wonderful blessing of this trip.

The Froehlich's and the Ascher's

Some of the Cillpam's

We closed our trip to South Carolina by stopping at an air show on the way home. Joey's favorite thing, and my favorite memory of something I did with my Grammie and Papa. It was the perfect end to our weekend.