The three days between our arrival in Colorado and Mimi's funeral were jam packed. The members of her family worked hard to put together the kind of funeral they thought she would be happy with. I was very happy when Rachel asked me to write and deliver Mimi's eulogy with her. First of all, I was proud to be able to take part in Mimi's services. She has always meant a great deal to me and because I've been gone for the last four and a half years, I was totally prepared to show up and have things taken care of by the people who had been here with her and who knew not only what she'd gone through these last painful months but what kind of send off she desired. Secondly, I was very happy to be working with my cousin Rachel.
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| I was nearly 17 when Rachel was born. She and I hung out a lot the first five years of her life. |
She and I got together and reminisced about all the memories we have of Mimi. We wrote down bullet points and then went back and filled it all in. Our eulogy was supposed to be about five minutes long, but after the first draft, it was nearly double that. We both have a lot of memories of Mimi we wanted to share.
We got it pared down a bit. Below is what we came up with.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jennifer:
I’m Jennifer and this is Rachel and we are two of Mimi’s 10
grandchildren. Linda is my mom and Rachel is Kathy’s oldest daughter.
Mimi has been Mimi since as far back as I can remember but
I’ve been told that her nickname originated from my desire for potato chips.
The story goes that at two years of age I walked into her kitchen and said,
“Mimi bips” while pointing to the drawer in which she always kept a bag of
Lay’s. It’s been speculated that I was actually saying “Give me chips” but because
I was so young at the time, no one really knows. Regardless, she’s been Mimi
since that time and her assortment of snack foods is something that we can all
relate to and remember. Tasty treats didn’t stop outside of Mimi’s door,
though. She loved taking her grandchildren everywhere and a couple of her
favorite destinations were to Perkins for breakfast or to pile our trays as we
walked through the line at Furr’s Cafeteria.
Throughout my life I’ve had the opportunity to live with Mimi
a half a dozen times. My husband, Steven proposed to me in the house where she
raised all of her children and grandchildren. All of us were so fortunate to
have a grandmother that was not only our favorite person to hang out with but
who took care of us all as though we were her own children. There were slumber
parties and movies…a lot of Shirley Temple and Pollyanna. Another favorite was Homeward
Bound and for the younger generation she had numerous Disney movies and
watched television shows such as Dancing
with the Stars.
Mimi loved to let all her grandchildren dress up in her many
hats and even let us use her hair curlers and lip stick. Even she reminisced
not long ago about fanning us dry after our baths and dusting us with her big,
white powder puff. Most of our “Mimi
memories” took place in what I believe was our family home although it was Mimi
who resided there. We had a playhouse, a swing set, a sandbox and a yard filled
with amazing trees and grass to goof around in. We lived in that house, all of
us when we’d come to visit her. Everywhere you looked was evidence that she had
grandchildren whom she adored from pictures scattered throughout the house to
carefully colored works of art on her fridge and other handmade odds and ends
that she displayed upon her walls with pride. She shared her home and the pets
that lived there with us as if they were our own. We played with her dogs,
Gretchen and Kao, knew where all of her craft supplies and paper dolls were
located and we invited our friends to hang out with us there, often times
without asking first. There was no need.
The house that Mimi raised her four daughters in was not only a home to her family
but also to all of our friends and neighbors. She turned no one away and
welcomed us all in with open arms.
Rachel:
I can’t remember a holiday where Mimi didn’t try to get the
entire family together, and there was never a time I heard her say no. She
would go anywhere and do just about anything to spend time with us. Rather it
be a sporting event, a dance recital, a field trip, or just a simple walk to
the park, Mimi just wanted to be with us in whatever the adventure may be. Not
only did she attend every outing and event, she was sure to document each one
of them, creating as many photo combinations as possible and even cropping in
those family members who were not able to attend. We have tried to illustrate
Mimi’s love of pictures and her family with the several collages you see
displayed.
Mimi excelled in making sure her family built traditions and
stuck to them. We will always remember Easter at Donna and Gary’s where Mimi
would say the most amazing heart felt prayer thanking the Lord for all of his
love and glory and for allowing us to be such a tight knit family before we
would all set off on an egg hunt. She began a tradition of taking us to the Nutcracker
ballet with Jennifer in 1975, and kept it going for nearly 35 years, only
stopping when her eyesight and health quit allowing her to continue. All the girls
in the family would pick out Nutcracker dresses and get dolled up to go
downtown, and we all looked forward to eating dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory
after the show. It was very important to Mimi at Christmas time that everyone
be together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the family that he so
lovingly blessed us with. There was always cookie decorating and many of us got
dressed up on Christmas Eve and attended evening services at Southern Gables
during which Pastor Nelson read a story about the true meaning of Christmas,
leaving us with a lesson that Mimi would talk about over dinner later that
evening. She aspired to make sure all of us accepted Jesus as our savior and
that we had a personal relationship with the Lord. New Year’s Eve was a special
holiday as well with Mimi and grandchildren clad in her hats and armed with
pots and spoons to noisily herald in the first day of January.
Mimi believed in affection and there was never a time she
didn’t hug us when she saw us, nor did we ever part ways without a kiss or a
hug. She loved us. She was proud of us and she told us so. She was honored to
claim each and every one of us and no one in our family ever doubted it.
I want to finish by saying how proud Mimi would be to see her
entire family gathered together to celebrate her devotion to God and to her family.
Her impact on all of our lives and her ability to keep us close to one another
is remarkable. Her spirit and traditions will never be forgotten and we will
continue to spread the word of God through the numerous lessons Mimi taught us.
A day will not go by that we won’t reminisce about the memories and beliefs
that Mimi instilled in each one of us.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mimi's grandchildren meant the world to her. I'm sure glad I was one of them.
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