.

Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Grandma Elda's Will and Video of her Life

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Today as I sifted through boxes of photographs I came across several pictures taken of Charles, Luella, Grandpa Liessman, Lisa and Caden at Grandma Elda's grave in Bismarck North Dakota.
I decided to put them in a small video accompanied by pictures from Grandma's life realizing most of us didn't have the opportunity to offer Grandma our last respects.

Before the video, I'd like to share the first page of Grandma's last will and testament below. There is a second page listing Luella as her executor if Grandpa and Charles were dead. I left that page out of this post. I posted the first page of her short will to illustrate something which struck me about her life.


Grandma left Grandpa $500. She left her best dishes and her "quaint little candy dish" to Luella, and that it all. Everything else, was for Charles - which really wasn't much. To me this illustrates one thing, while Grandma had little in this life to leave behind, the memories we have of this wonderful woman - cantankerous and stubborn on her bad days and full of fun, wit and delightful sarcasm on her best, will not be forgotten as long as we are alive to remember them.

The material things we leave behind should not be the measure of our lifes. The memories and love we leave behind are. Our memories of Grandma Elda keep her with us until the last of us who remembers her passes into that last goodnight.

That is how she continues to reach out to us today.

Simply,
Victor


1 comment:

  1. Wow! I can't tell you how much I miss Grandma and Grandpa! That picture of her all bundled up makes me giggle. I remember how she would make fun of herself having to bundle up like an eskimo to go anywhere. She loved to make fun of herself as much as she loved to make fun of others. I think we all have that self deprecating sense of humor that she had...... that and obscenely skinny wrist and ankles!!
    Love ya always Grandma and Grandpa,
    Jellybean :)

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