Memories of Grandma Woolf

This is my dear sweet Grandma Woolf. Her body is frail and my Dad is in Cardston, Alberta right now so he can see her one last time before she passes through the veil to be with her sweet heart again.

I was asked to write down a few memories I have and e-mail them to my Aunts. I had a tender moment pondering about Grandma the other night. She has out lived all of my Grandparents. I sure think the world of her and am proud to be her grand-daughter.

Here are some of my memories.

(Mostly for family to read and to keep a record for posterity,

but if you are interested you are more than welcome to read on.)

I will always and forever remember Dad singing me a Lullaby called "Goodnight Sweet Dreams....till Angel up above watch over you and keep you safe my love, till the night is through." He always told me that his Mom (Grandma) sang it to him, and he sang it to me just about each and every night. Now I get to sing it to my own precious daughter and I will tell her it is a special Grandma Woolf song.

I remember sneaking into her bedroom to look at all of her CLIP on earrings, they were fascinating to me. As a little girl I was scared to get my ears pierced and I always thought to myself, I can be like Grandma Woolf and wear clip ons the rest of my life. I thought she was always scared too. (Don't know if that is true.)

In her basement she had a little playroom under her stairs, I loved to go and play down there. My favorites items were her old hard suitcases and empty make up containers. I would powder my nose and try to look so beautiful like Grandma.

I have pictures of myself exercising with her as a little girl about 5 years of age. I know she was always a good example of eating healthy food and taking care of her body.

All of my growing up years I know that Grandma was a funny one, we would be sitting around big family dinners and she would have everyone rolling with tears of laughter. I can't recall any specific jokes, I just know that I had a quick witted, Grandma who was always the life of the party.

Time and time and again we would pull up to the house after a trip from Calgary or Utah and see her behind as she was bent over tending to her rose bushes.

Grandma always had a soft spot for Snuggles, the Ash's family dog. He never liked me very much but he would often find his way down to Grandma's when I was there and she would sneak him something to eat when nobody was looking.

One afternoon when I was in my teens we were visiting Grandma. She was tired and was told to go lie down, I think Dad (Gordon) told her she was not pleased about this but she obeyed. I wanted to go and talk to her so I went to lay down next to her and she kept telling me she had so much work to get done and that she had no time to rest. She started to sing "The world has need of willing men....who wear the workers seal....put your shoulder to the wheel...., we all have work, let no one shirk...." she sang me the whole song with a chipper voice and then we talked, I don't remember what about..but I remember it was a sweet precious moment. Mom told me that Grandma had a love affair with the church hymns and I knew it that day.

Grandma could make anyone feel happy about themselves. She was always happy to see me when I would visit her, she would fuss over my sisters and I and always put our needs above her own.

I don't ever recall Grandma ever uttering a word of complaint about her arthritis or back pain. Mom (Marilyn) told me the only time she was free of pain was in the swimming pool & that Grandma loved to swim. My parents told me she suffered and I could see her swollen knuckles but that was all I knew.

She often told me what a handsome man I married. I think she must have been a real flirt back in the day. :)