Hi Sweet Radish,
I left work as soon as I could today just because I really wanted to hold you. The custodian at work, Daniel, asked about you and how I feel about working when you are at home. I said it is hard to be away from you….it urged me to get home and see you.
Marcus and Anastasia visited yesterday and Marcus held you while you sported a new look.
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Your Great Grammy Nell Sterrenberg passed away early in the morning yesterday. She was 97 years old……97 years older than you! But I’m glad she had the opportunity to meet you when we visited in December. Services for her will be in IL next week, so I will fly back to be with my Mom (your Grammy Diann) and Aunt Carmie and our family. It is frigid cold there now and will be, so you and Mommy are staying home.
Grammy Nell and Grandpa Fritz Sterrenberg were a big part of my life. When I was only a few weeks old and my Mommy went back into the hospital, they took me and cared for me. Grammy taught me how to cook, and Grandpa taught me how to find four-leaf clovers. I spent countless hours at their house playing, hosting campouts in the orchard, and having lots of pancakes in the kitchen of their house. When we would leave them, they stood outside and waved us. Grammy waved with both hands. Then, when we moved past view of them, they went to the other side of the house so they could wave some more until we were out of sight. Even when she moved to the assisted living apartment in Watseka, Grammy still would go to her balcony on the upper level, look down, and wave to us as we left.
Grammy was a model grandmother, giving unconditional love and support to me and the four grandsons forever. I will miss her, but I am grateful for the memories I have of her and hope I can give the same to you, little polka dot, throughout your life.
Grammy was born in Minnesota and met Grandpa at a dance. She was a teacher at a one-room schoolhouse near Fulda, MN, until she and Grandpa married and she moved to IL to be a farmer’s wife. I remember going to the fields with Grandpa and riding in the combine, then meeting Grammy in the barn south of town when she brought us soup and homemade bread for lunch.
I remember…. using Grammy’s recipe to make my own noodles, mashed potatoes, and bread, getting Valentine’s Day checks with heart stickers on them, visiting Grammy and bringing her an elephant from the country I had just visited. She has a vast collection of elephants from many countries…..a jade one from China, wooden carved one from Japan, one made of amber from the Dominican Republic, and others from Ecuador, Alaska, and The Czech Republic. It was fun to visit with her and haul out the atlas to show her where I had been or trips the other grandsons had taken.
She told me that, when I was very young, I would talk to her on the phone. This was at a time when she and Grandpa still had sheep and cows, and I had a “pet” sheep named Beulah. The conversation would go.
Me: Hi, Grammy
Grammy: Hi, David.
Me. How are you?
Grammy: I’m fine.
Me: How is Grandpa.
Grammy: He’s fine, too.
Me: (long pause)….How’s Beulah?
Even this past Christmas of 2013, Grammy would provide all the family with stuffed stockings full of trinkets, stamps, snacks, tools, and a Christmas check. I loved Christmastime.
Toward the end of her life, Grammy had aches and pains that wouldn’t go away. She had to take a handful of pills that she didn’t like, and it got harder for her to live without support. My Mom and Aunt Carmie did a lot of caring for her the last several years, with constant trips to her house in Crescent City when she lived alone, her apartment at Kingdon’s, and finally her room in the nursing home where she was for the last 2 months of her life. Mom and Aunt Carmie were there with Grammy when she took her last breaths early in the morning on Sunday. I’m glad they could be with her because I’m sure it comforted her.
Rest in Peace, Grammy Nell. I am so thankful for knowing you and am a better person because you loved me. I will miss you.
Love, David