Category Archives: People

My beloved grandmother and the great matriarch of our family died a few days ago. About a year and a half ago I said goodbye to my grandfather, Nan’s husband of 71 years. It’s hard for me to imagine the world without my Nan and Gump. Here are my words for the memorial service.

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About a year and a half ago we comforted Nan and said goodbye to her husband of more than 70 years and my grandfather, Gump. We marveled at the life they shared and the amazing opportunity our family had to be a part of something so timeless and real in an otherwise plastic, disposable world. Now, although we have to say goodbye to Nan she’ll never really be gone from our lives. She lives on for us in a million different ways, timeless impressions she’s left in our hearts and minds.

 Some of those impressions at first seem inconsequential but now their significance is magnified. The other day I found myself looking up at the sky with my kids and reciting:

“Last night the moon had a golden ring,
And to-night no moon we see!”
The skipper, he blew whiff from his pipe,
And a scornful laugh laughed he.”

A little boy in Eastern Canada in the 1970s might never have found words by Longfellow on his own but I did because Nanny was a poet at heart. Words such as these flowed from her with ease and filled our lives with the pure beauty of verse. Her own poetry could melt the heart of the toughest soul and told the tale of girl who faced much in life but also told of one who lived fully. These words, her words and the love she had for sharing them live on in all of us, as they will for my children and their children.

Some of the impressions Nan left are unmistakably monumental. I don’t think I’ve ever known a kinder soul than my grandmother. In a world full of self-interested people and those only willing to pay lip service to sacred ideals, Nanny was the real thing. Though overused it feels particularly appropriate to say that Nan didn’t just talk the talk, she walked the walk. For those of us that had the great fortune to walk with her on the journey, it was impossible not to be constantly reminded of life’s most important value. In all things be good and kind; give more to others than you ask of them. If you can do this simple thing every day, you’ll change the world.

I love you Nan–thank you for changing my world.