Grandma Darley

My amazing grandma aka Grandma Darley aka Grandma Great passed away on May 20, 2014. About 6 months before we found out she developed multiple myeloma (cancer of your plasma cells). Her health slowly started declining. My mom would give me weekly updates over the phone as to how Grandma was doing in her final months of life. My mom and her sisters took such great care of Grandma. She was able to stay in her home and my aunt Brenda, who lived next door, came down every morning to check on her and help her. During the last few months they decided to hire a hospice because things were getting worse and Brenda couldn't be there all the time. It sounds like they took such great care of her as well.
What a special lady my grandma is! Here is her obituary that was printed in the Herald Journal.

She was such a warm and caring person. She was always there to greet me with a big hug and a kiss on my cheek, which always left a mark from her lipstick. She loved everyone! She loved being outside and walking. Grandma loved to walk everywhere. She always had so much energy and was so full of life. And so young at heart. She was always up for an adventure and always had a smile on her face. I will always remember this little sticky note she had posted on her bathroom mirror for years and years that read "I intend to be happy". She chose to be happy, and she really was.
She was always so stylish and loved to go shopping! I like to think I inherited my love for shopping from her. My mom tells me it skipped a generation because she doesn't enjoy it very much.:) She loved going to St. George every winter. I loved going down there to visit her and go hiking and shopping with her.
I really love that she was such a big Jazz fan. If there was a Jazz game on, she was watching it. My parents and Aunt Nan and Uncle Scott would take her to Jazz games sometimes and she would get into it. One time the Jazz Bear came over to her, picked her up, and carried her over to an empty chair right next to Larry Miller's son on the front row! Best day of her life! How cute is that!
Grandma loved flowers. She also loved birds. I always think of her as I sit with my girls and watch the birds gather at our bird feeder in the backyard. She always loved gardening and felt happy out in her yard digging in the dirt. I feel the same way.

Grandma loved her mountains. Her and Archie lived in the same house their whole life together!! That is amazing! Trey and I haven't even been married 8 years yet and we've lived in 5 different places already. I have so many sweet memories of family gatherings, Easter egg hunts, Thanksgivings, Christmases, Memorial Days, and Labor Day festivities in that sweet pink little house on the corner.

 

 

 

 

It's strange to say she was my last living grandparent. I no longer have a grandma's house to go visit when I go to Cache Valley and that makes me sad. I always looked forward to our visits. She always made every person who walked through her front door feel special and loved. No judgements whatsoever. She loved when I brought Trey over to meet her for the first time. His hair was long and curly then and she was in love with it! She just gushed and gushed over it and Trey thought it was great. He said she immediately made him feel welcome and accepted, even if he wasn't the most clean cut boy in the world.

One of my favorite things grandma would always say is "We are so blessed." She would say that multiple times at gatherings as she would stop and look at all her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, her greatest blessings and treasures.

I could go on and go about all this woman's wonderful qualities. What a inspiring example of charity. She loved people and she loved life. You could tell that she knew the Savior by the way she lived her life. And I know the reunion of her and Grandpa Archie was so sweet and special. When I envision that joyous reunion it's hard not to be happy for her that she is free from her old body and earthly cares and reunited with her sweetheart.
I love you Grandma. I miss you. Wellsville will never quite be the same without you. I rejoice in the fact that I know I get to see you and be with you again and you'll be waiting for me with open arms to give me a great big hug and a kiss.