my grandma

Sadly, this past weekend we spent in Detroit celebrating the life of my grandma, Ellie Hurley. She passed away a few weeks ago after stroke. She didn’t suffer long and was active and vibrant until the end. This weekend many came to celebrate her humor, energy, spunk, ability to entertain everyone, and her joy of life. It was really interesting to meet her friends and neighbors who knew her in a different way than her family. I really enjoyed talking to her friends who played cards with her every Sunday. They were so sweet and knew all about us before we even introduced ourselves. One of her neighbors was maybe in her 30’s and told us about her first time meeting my grandma. She stopped her outside, introduced herself, and asked if her neighbor had a minute for a joke. I’m sure the joke was pretty racy since all of them were. I always liked her jokes because they were always a little too old for me and probably unapproved by my mom. I was surprised to see how shaken her neighbor was when remembering my grandma.

Needless to say, my grandma made an impact on everyone she met. I’m really going to miss her.

One of my jobs for the funeral was to organize the family pictures. It was fun, hard, and helpful for me to go through photos of her with family, friends, my grandpa, and living her life.

Here is my grandma with my mom as a baby.

Mmmm…they look so happy and carefree.

It’s been weird to see my grandma with my brother and I as babies because I am now taking pictures of my mom and Lincoln. I’m also seeing some family resemblance between Evan and Lincoln.

I feel I can say this because this is a picture of me…but I don’t think I was the cutest baby. Maybe I just wasn’t very photogenic.

I might not be smiling in this photo, but at least I’m getting cuter.

It was great to see my grandma on stage where she feels most comfortable. She really loved the spotlight and the spotlight loved her.

I’m so thankful we had a family reunion this past August where she was able to meet Lincoln. She has a pretty long conversation with him where he talked to her for longer than he ever did before. I think she really liked having some special moments with him.

So chubby.

The family together.

Love you, grandma!

~ by carolynafrost on April 19, 2010.