August 2015
TO: Chris, Kathleen, Barbara and Bruce:
FROM: Damon.
On behalf of my mom Chris, my aunts Kathleen and Barbara, and Uncle Bruce, “un message de condoléances [french; A message of condolence}”. Sincerely. It is my hope here to offer my deepest condolences for ‘Big Grammy.’ Sincerely. I wanted nothing more than to be there. Again. Sincerely.
For Chris, Kathleen and Barbara, and Bruce we mourn not just the passing of a mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother; we mourn the loss of a woman who endured 8 ½ decades of some of the most momentous moments in history.
A child during the depression; a teenager at the beginning of World War II. In 1947 she faced the anxiety and fear of leaving her family. She embraced the anxiety, endured and moved to California.
Moving to California from Utah at such an early age took a level of courage that most young woman [and men] don’t have. The easiest thing for her to have done would have been to stay close to her family. But she decided to leave; start her own family and raise them in her manner. She did this.
After raising her children, having two grand children, with two more grandchildren to be born that year [1972] she made the decision to ‘not’ be a stay at home grandmother. Instead, she engaged the work force, embarking on a career that would give her three decades of experience at the Better Business Bureau.
Retiring as a Vice President, with 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and eventually 3 great grandchildren, she occupied the time of her retirement by working diligently in her yard. Visiting and doing things with friends and family. She visited her older friend Ruth and assumed a caretaker role in her elder care.
I could go on with examples of how she did things for her family. I believe it can be easily summed up in the following: everything she did in her life was geared towards the benefit of her family. Every day was a day where whatever she did was done to maximize how she could help her family. She recognized changing times and saw how her children’s generation was faced with new hurdles. She tried to understand this and to help in any way possible.
Raising her children. Going to work after raising her children meant she could plan family vacations, family reunions, holiday gatherings and birthdays. Christmas Eve was always at Big Grammy’s.
We have her life to show us an example. Her career at the BBB was not about her fulfilling some need to work 40 hours a week; it was a means to the end of being in the best possible position should something arise with her family. This was her altruism. And she passed it onto her children.
When I was packing to move back to Illinois I came across a box my mom had. A small box. The size of a photo album. On it was the writing “for Damon,” in Big Grammies hand writing. I opened the box and there was the photo album she had made for me when I graduated graduate school. The album had pictures of me and my young brother; my dad; my mom and family. All those years and all those pictures she insisted on getting now made sense. I understand now.
In studying history there is one woman that has always reminded me of my grandmother. “Golda Meir,” the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, whose alma mater was the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She was nick named “The Iron Lady of Israeli politics.” She led the nation through its darkest hours. A grandmother, she would walk into a room with her grandmother dress and purse and hold her own with male foreign dignitaries in a male dominated world. She never coward in the face of adversity. She held her own and led.
She is still with us. She is forever a part of us. She was our matriarch and the “el presidente.”
Her life was not in vain. She is gone but not forgotten. May she rest in peace in the glory of our lord, forever.
Sincerely.
D. Luna,MA,MA,MS