Grandma Lewis Funeral

My dear sweet Grandma Lewis died on January 12th about 7:30am,  She was my last living grandparent to die. I knew she was really sick for the past few weeks.  She was in a lot of pain. The whole family prayed that she would soon die and return to Heavenly Father. The weeks leading up to her passing, she would ask constantly what time and what day it was  My Aunt Delon believes she knew when she was going to die and wanted to know how much longer she had left.  The Sunday before she died, she asked Delon what she had learned in church that day and after Delon recapped what was taught my Grandma then asked her to read the Relief Society lesson.  My grandma loved the gospel and loved learning and though she could hardly hear or see, that didn't stop her from continuing on the righteous path and following Christ even up to the last hours before she died.  

*** I've started and restarted this post many times. I've actually been avoiding writing about this post because....it hurts to write about someone who is so dear, special, and someone who has been part of your whole life and now is gone but gone only temporally. ****

I thought I would add what my wonderful mother wrote in her blog.  She has such great talent in writing eloquently and can express what I want to say.

" On New Years day we received an email from Dantzelle with the sad news that Grandma was not doing well. From her email of Jan 1, 2015:

"On New Years day we received an email from Dantzelle with the sad news that Grandma was not doing well. From her email of Jan 1, 2015: Sunday after church Delon said Mom started having hard coughing and shortness of breath.  She began feeling anxious as she felt she couldn't get enough oxygen.  She began feeling pain in her back, arms and shoulders.

Mom was put on oxygen 24 hours a day and was also prescribed a low dose of codine in a cough syrup.  That did help for a few days.

Delon she was exhausted as Mom was up hourly with coughing, weak and needing 24 hour care.  Delon asked if I could come and help.

I came Tuesday morning. Mom has been in more pain and weaker and weaker.  Though typical of her....she has her ups and downs and her mind is very sharp!

Today, the good Dr. Matheney, made a house call to Mom and assured her all would be well and knows that Malin is anxiously waiting for her.  He has now prescribed heavier pain killers and feels it's time to do whatever we need to keep her comfortable.  Of course this means she will sleep more and more and more..............    

We had a sweet and tender experience today as mom is more than ready to see her loved ones on the other side.

We learned later that Mom had said that she had seen Dad's face. I think that helped her mentally know that this was her time to go.

It was a difficult 12 days where she no longer wanted food, drinking was difficult, and soon it was just sucking on a sponge. Myreel and Durelle came to help and Dantzelle returned home. It took two of them giving her 24 hour care to get through the process of her body shutting down. Mom wanted them to be in the room with her and to have one person hold her hand all the time. If they slightly adjusted their position she would immediately whisper, "Don't leave me, keep holding my hand."

The sisters all commented how sweet Mom was for every little thing they did for her. She expressed her appreciation all the time. Although hardly able to move or speak, she would give thanks for their service. 

When Seth got the word that Grandma was not doing well, he texted Dantzelle to see if he could talk with her. As it was so difficult for her to hear or speak, they were just going to relay a message to Seth, but instead they decided to video record Grandma's last message to her 75 grandchildren. It was very sweet. She mentioned Ondalynn & Seth as she remembers them growing up next door to her. That was a special time for her to have them close and to enjoy them everyday. In turn, Ondalynn, Seth, Alice-Anne, Vivi and Dallin were particularly close as they grew up next door and then later, not far from them. The thing she empasized over and over again was how important a testimony is in your life. She shared her testimony and then told them to never stop sharing their testimony. What a marvelous woman. The gospel was the center of her life and she instilled that important truth in the lives of her 12 children. She and Grandpa Lewis were mighty, faithful saints that blessed thousands of lives.

Grandma suffered much discomfort and pain in the end. Monday morning, January 12th, about 7 a.m. Myreel called for Clyde as Grandma seemed especially uncomfortable. He spoke directly into her ear, "Mom are you in pain?" Her shallow response was, "It's all over." From then on she didn't say anything else, and she was not responding to them. At 8:38 a.m. MT in Kindman, AZ, Mom left this mortal existence through the door of death, into a new life with her her God and her family waiting for her on the other side of the veil. Delon felt that her last words meant that this was the end."


Even though my grandma died early Monday morning all my aunts and uncles and majority of my cousins were able to attend the funeral on Friday. I flew with my parents and Ondalynn and Gary early early Thursday morning.  We were picked up by my cousins Myreel and Camilla and my cousin's wife, Tiffany Pease.  We drove to Kingman Arizona where the viewing, funeral and family gathering will be.

  Majority of the Lewis family who came far away stayed in the Great Western in Kingman.  The owners of the Great Western is good family friend and gave a great discount to us.  What a generous man! We made it in time for my mom to assist with the sisters and sisters in law in dressing mom.  After freshening up, we went over to the Pease's home where the family gathering and viewing would be. We were able to walk through Grandma's house and look at the precious items around her house.  Many of them remind me of when I was a little girl living in Arizona.  I was so happy I was able to take a few of these items home with me.


 






 I can't tell you how WONDERFUL it was to see all my aunts and uncles and cousins who I hadn't seen in MANY MANY MANY YEAR.  There is such a spirit of love in the Lewis Family.  Many of my cousins homeschool so I got to talk to them and glean from their expertise.  In one part of the house, there was food and lots of talking and laughing and then another part of the house was my grandma's open casket viewing.  The viewing room had such a sacred and reverence to it.  In the viewing room, there was a recording playing of my grandma singing in a trio a long long time ago.

I was also so thrilled to see all my brothers and sisters except for Crismon (in Taiwan) again! Oh how I missed them. Alice-Anne and Meredith brought their kids so that was fun being with my nieces and nephews! They have to remember who their favorite aunt is, right? 












Friday morning was my grandma's funereal.  The foyer had tables filled with pictures of grandma and the family.  After lots of talking with family we all gathered in the Relief Society room one last time to say goodbye to Grandma and the family prayer before closing the casket.  There was a sweet Spirit in the room. My dad said a sweet prayer and my aunts and uncles and the Pease's kids who Grandma and Grandpa lived with for many years kissed Grandma goodbye and they closed the casket.

My sister Meredith was asked at the last minute to play the organ.  As part of the funeral program, the great-grandkids sang, "Families Can Be Together Forever" and the grandkids sang, "Oh My Father".  We practiced for an hour before the funeral.   Uncle Wick a musical genius and was able to take ordinary singers like us, well some of my cousins are fabulous singers but ordinary singers like me and make it sound amazing. 

Each of the siblings shared a story or memory of grandma. I loved hearing all the stories.  Some were funny, some were sweet and some were examples of my Grandma's love for the gospel and Jesus Christ.  Here are some of the stories I remembered. 

My aunt Myreel shared story of when she was a young teen.  She had just gotten back from some girls camp and wanted to write to her friends.  She went into the den that had just gotten beautiful new white carpet put down.  She sat at the desk to write to her letters.  Back then they used felt tip pens and that had to be dipped into ink to write.  As she proceed to dip her pen in the ink, her arm accidentally bumped the ink and all the ink fell to the floor leaving a big stain on the new white carpet. When she showed her mom (Grandma) what had happened, with the outer-most patience, Grandma responded, "I guess that is where we'll put the rug.".  Grandma so easily could have yelled, grounded and so many other things but no, she responded with love and patiences. She understood that mistakes happen.  Oh how I need to learn to do this in my own parenting.  I need to not react but respond and respond with love.

JunieBlake dresses!


Each of the sisters (my aunts) and sisters in law was able to pick out one of Grandma's brooches.  I can't remember a time when my Grandma wasn't wearing one.  She was such a classy woman and would wear one everyday with her house dress even if she wasn't going out or meeting any people.

We were encourage to wear pink at the funeral.  It was my Grandma's favorite color! She said it made her feel beautiful! The Relief Society sisters put on a yummy meal afterwards.  It was quiet the crowd. 150 of us were there at Grandma's funeral.  Everyone stayed through the afternoon visiting. That day happened to be my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  Before everyone left we all pitched in and helped clean the church. With that many hands, we were done in no time. 

Early Saturday morning, I drove with Meredith and her family to Mesa. The burial was going to be held there.  It was fun chatting with Meredith one on one.  She was very pregnant at the time but as I am typing this, she has a two week old baby!

The graveside service was beautiful.  My aunt Dantzelle told Grandma's life story. The grandchildren sang, "Oh My Father" again and Uncle Cylde dedicated the grave.  At the end, there were gold and silver permanent markers to write our last message to Grandma on her casket.  I have never seen or heard anyone doing that before but I thought it was a great idea.  When I die, that is what I want. 

My parents' message to Grandma.

My message to Grandma.

Evelynn's message to Grandma.

 I love my sweet and dear grandma!  She is an extraordinary woman.  I love her testimony and faith in Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful that I have a knowledge that families can be together forever! I am so grateful for the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ who makes it all possible.  Because He lives. I too can live again and be with my family forever!

I thought I would add what I wrote as well as my sister's wrote on their Facebook wall after we received word about Grandma's passing. 

From Alice-Anne:
I have loved scrolling through my news feed and seeing it full of tributes and pictures of my sweet grandmother, Myreel Lewis, who died Monday at the age of 94. A small yet poignant sign of how deeply this one woman has influenced so many.

We baked a chocolate cake that night in her memory--because no one loves chocolate like Grandma Lewis loves chocolate!
As much as a loss brings sadness, I feel joy knowing that she is now free of pain and finally seeing many loved ones again, including two children who died too young.
I will miss her! I will miss how a simple conversation with her or an email reply (in large caps/font because her eyesight was fading) had a way of making me feel so important, cherished and valued. She knew how to love and build up others and even with such a large family, she knew, cared and remembered ME. Just being around her made me want to be a better person.
I will miss hearing her testimony and seeing her LIVE her testimony. Her life was full of challenges but she always put her Heavenly Father first in her life, always trusted in Him and miracles followed her.
I will miss that cute laugh (maybe best described as a "cackle")! I will remember how it would escape out through her beautiful grin as she approached the punch line of joke she wanted to share. She was so witty and always reminded us that life gives us plenty to cry about; we should all laugh more. As my dad commented yesterday, "Do they laugh in heaven? They do now."
How blessed I feel to be one of her 75 grandchildren (I'm #24....discovered that little fact at a family reunion!) and my children are part of a special group of close to 200 that call her great-grandma. What a life, legacy and example we all have to follow. I look forward to "learning" from her once more as we celebrate her life this weekend. I am so grateful that through Jesus Christ I will see her again someday. Thank you, Grandma! How I love you!

From Ondalynn:
My sweet Grandma Lewis passed away today. She was, to put it simply, an amazing woman. She gave birth to 12 children and I am privileged to be one of her 75 grandchildren. I lived next door to her and Grandpa in Arizona when I was a child. I loved our daily visits to her house where Seth Lewis and I would snuggle up next to her and she would read us stories. I thought she had the most expressive reading voice. I could listen to her read for hours! Grandma was a classy woman. She had the most beautiful nails and always wore pretty lipstick. She was also a woman of thrift and hard work. She loved Arizona. She loved the desert sunsets and the birds. She was an excellent writer and a big fan of good chocolate. Grandma loved her family. She had the most wonderful sense of humor and kept us all laughing, even in her final days. Most of all, Grandma loved the Lord. She was faithful to Him every day of her life. She always shared her testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, even in her last hours she was testifying of him. In her final message to all of her grandchildren she said, "Keep the commandments... Don't get distracted... Stay on the path." Her enduring testimony and selfless life will be a strength to me the rest of my life. Thank you, Grandma. I love you.

From Emily:

I simply can't stop thinking about a special woman I call grandma.
I know that because of Jesus Christ, our families will be together forever, as families, and thats made me so happy today. I remember when she taught me about being courageous for doing whats right, laughing instead of crying, eating chocolate in every occasion, and easily love others. I know God lives, because she lived a life of serving Him, and loving Him. I am so proud, she is my grandma.

From Me: 
My dear sweet Grandma passed away this morning. She was an amazing woman! She was the mother of 12 children, and I am one of the 75 privileged grandchildren to call her grandma. She lived a life of endless service to others. She bore her testimony of Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon every chance she got. She taught me to enjoy life to it's fullest. I love her so much and because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I will see her again! I want to honor her by living the kind of life she lived because she was a true disciple of Jesus Christ. I want to add an excerpt of our prophet testifying that "life is everlasting...and all shall live again".