We laid our beloved grandmother to rest yesterday.  She died at the age of 99, leaving 12 children, many grandchildren, and even great and great great grandchildren grieving for her loss.

Our family grieves in their own way, as all families do.  Like many we love to celebrate the life the person lived, not simply wail and moan over their death.

Don’t get me wrong.  There were tears a plenty when the notice of her death went out.  At the viewing and the memorial service there were many tears falling.  As two of my cousins sang the song grandmother requested, the tears were there.  As the granddaughters chorus sang another favorite, it was very emotional.

As one of the 8 grandsons asked to be pallbearer, I escorted her to the hearse and then helped carry her to the grave site.  I was mostly fine, really, until my uncle David and cousin Natalie’s husband Corrie played their bagpipes.  I don’t know the name of the first song they piped, but the second was my absolute favorite song on pipes, Amazing Grace.  Even on a good day, Amazing Grace on pipes reduces me to jello, and in this case, the tears flowed freely.

Tears not withstanding, the joy of her life was overwhelming.  Truly, she was remarkable, and it leaves me in awe thinking of the span of her life. 

Born in 1909, she was a young child when WW1 concluded. She was a young married woman raising children during the Great Depression.   She was a mother of 6 during WW2, and had 13 children by the age of 44.  At 45, she was San Jose California’s Mother of the Year, a testimony to her well known love of volunteer and community work.

In 1968, she became a widow, but it didn’t stop her even as she raised her last couple of teenage boys alone.