As many of you know, I was named after my Dad's mom, Dora Petersen. I have her first name as my middle name. I remember her mentioning how proud she was to have someone named after her and how special it was. As far as I know, I am the only one of her grandchildren who are named after her, and until recently I do not think I truly appreciated what that meant.
My grandma recently passed away. It was not expected and it was very shocking and difficult to come to terms with. Because of the viewing and the funeral, I was able to see how people who were not her family viewed her as a person. From what I understood from all of the women who talked with our family, she must have been saving seats for half of the ward! She was always giving of herself to others. She worked tirelessly in her garden, and I know she gave freely of the produce to family, and perhaps to others not in the family. She had worked for many years as a nurse so I know that she felt one of the main purposes for her life was to serve and to give, to heal and to love.
She was so giving of her substances. My family would visit her often and she always let us stay with her and also insisted on cooking breakfast for us (even when we told her we were fine with cereal), and often cooked dinner meals for us as well. Even after I got married, she was very welcoming of both me and Marcus when we came to visit and she did all she could to make sure we had everything we needed. In fact, the night that she passed away, Larissa and Ryan were staying there on their way back to BYUI. She was being selfless and giving in her very last moments.
One thing that I find to be the most remarkable about her life is how frugal she lived. I am not sure how much money she had to live on (my grandpa passed away about 16 years ago, and I only knew that my dad was told that she would never be in need), but I know that she lived well below her means. She reused things and grew her own food. She seemed to truly understand the difference between needs and wants. She was willing to do almost anything to help others, but she did not do very much for herself.
I remember when we would leave from out visits with her, she would wave us away and often teared up as we left. I have no doubt that she loved us and wished the best for us always.
So what is in a name? What does it mean to be named after my wonderful Grandma? As a child, I asked my parents why I was named after a door. Then I understood who I was named after, but Dora the Explorer came around and I was almost embarrassed by my middle name because others would often laugh and make jokes about it. However, I always knew that I loved my grandma and that I wanted to pass on her name and her legacy to my first daughter because my grandma seemed to be so pleased to have someone named after her. But what am I passing on? It is a name from someone my children will never have the opportunity to know in this life. I hope I can pass on more than a name, but in order to do that, I need to live up to the name I was given. I hope I will not put any shame to her name. I hope I can keep it pure and whole as she made it. I hope that I can follow in her footsteps by being selfless, giving, loving, hard working, Christlike, frugal, and by making sure my family is the center of my world, followed by the Gospel. Hopefully, if I can live up to her name, I will be able to pass on her legacy to my children and help them fully understand the significance of a name.
These are pictures of my family that I took at the funeral. It was a beautiful service and it was remarkable to see how many people she touched. She was a truly remarkable woman.
I love this picture. So many of her grandsons had the opportunity to be casket bearers.
I am sure that the amount of floral arrangements that were given surprised my grandma. I doubt she thought she had helped that many people. She was so giving.
Here is a picture of all of the siblings together.
Here is a picture of all of the siblings and their spouses.
I will never forget her.
No comments:
Post a Comment