Grandma

Spring 1988

This is my Grandma Viola Martin McComb Crossley.  For those who have heard me talk of her over the years, this is THE grandma.  Today marks the 17th anniversery of her death, and for some reason I miss her more today, than I have for years.  She has been much in my mind over the past months.  She has been and still is the voice in my head when choices must be made, as I wonder what she would do.  In my head I hear her say "Have you taken it to the Lord, Cheryl?"  If I had to sum up her life in one phrase, I believe it would be Love of God and Family.  Shortly after my oldest daughter, Rachel, was born, we had a 4 generation picture taken

 

December 25, 1985

Grandma holding babies is one of my strongest images in my memory.  She loved children.  Shortly after she passed, I wrote this poem. 

My grandma was a woman 

of quite modest means

Yet when grandma died

She left me so many things.

Grandma had so many talents

tinking of them makes me dizzy.

She lived by the adage

keep small hands busy.

Her hands seemed to fly with

crocheting and knitting.

I never once saw her

in a chair just sitting.

She left me a book

having nurtured my love to read

And in my children today

I plant that seed.

She was a great storyteller

just give her a line.

She’d start right there

and loose track of time.

When you had a problem

she said “Here I am!”

And she listened and talked

as we made choke cherry jam.

She taught me to find

beauty in very small things

Like the joy that is found

when to a child one sings

Children were her focus

here whole life through

She nurtured and cared for them

even after they grew.

When I think of my grandma,

I can still feel her love.

And I hope she is smiling

down from heaven above.

When I remember Grandma now, I think of her arms around me as she hugged me and kissed me on the forehead, smelling of vanilla and chocolate chip cookies.  I think of her as I knit--remembering her sitting me down at age 7 and telling me that I needed stillness lessons.  She is all around me, part of who I have become and because of that I am enriched.  Here are just a few pictures of her life with family.

Here she is with my Grandpa McComb, Aunt Mick and Mom on thier laps.

In the kitchen with Aunt Mick.

May 26, 1961

Here she is with mom and aunt Mick at their graduation. 

 

July 3, 1982

She is in the background at a picnic.  She loved picnics and when Uncle Mike and Aunt Jeannine came to town, the world stopped so we could be with them.  We loved it when Uncle Mike came to visit--chores were set aside and fun began.

1988

She was very happy with this picture of her and Grandpa Crossley.  She felt it was a good picture of her. 

Fall 1992

Here she is at the last picnic she was able to enjoy up at Justice park.  She is here with Grandpa Crossley, Mom, my sister Sarah and brother Joe.  Oh how she loved going on a picnic. 

I love you Grandma--Thank you.