A Tribute to Grandma

This is the most recent pict. I have of her w/ Gracee and my cousin Brandon's baby Isabella


My Grandma Rill passed away about a week ago and we had her services (Yes 2, we had one in Othello where she has lived the last 40+ yrs and then she wanted to be buried in Elgin Or-close to tollgate, where she was born and raised) this week--what a busy week. This was the 1st death in my family and so I have never had to go through something like that -- what an emotional roller coaster.

She had had cancer (intestinal) for the last 18 yrs and lived well beyond the 5months - 2 yrs they gave her. The sad part to that is she basically has suffered since then. She never was a complainer, but I imagine it as always having a stomache ache. In my heart I know she is in the best place she can be, the hardest part is feeling sorry for my Grandpa. That is all he has known for the last 55 yrs-- good thing they have a HUGE garden w/ plenty of things to do to keep him busy.

A few of my memories (good and bad):

playing w/ paper dolls and rocks

getting my mouth washed out w/ soap for the 1st time (I think I said I hate you)

Grandma trying to get work out of me and my brothers by offering us 25 cents if we picked a basket (the little greeen 4x4 ones) of rasberries. I remember being determined but only ever picking 2 or 3 baskets.

Her LOVE for picnics

She absolutely enjoyed nature to its fullest-- whether it be trees, mountains, rivers, wildflowers, thunder or lightning, wind storms -- she found the beauty in all of it

She hated to waste ANYTHING-- she would scrape bowls clean until the siding of the bowl would come off, she would eat every last crumb on her plates, we even found that she was saving milk jug caps-- not because she had a use for them, just because she probably could not fathom throwing them away.

I'll never forget when we were younger and all 3 of us kids were staying at grandma's for the weekend and she had to go to Connell to get feed. We going down the back roads (us kids in the back of the pick-up w/ the canopy on) and looking through the window becasue we thought we were flying and sure enough she had the pedal to the metal-- she was going 70. I even had my brother look and when we told her about it, she denied it. She known for her lead foot, but she did not see it that way.

Her love for children, especially babies

I honestly do not know if she loved to cook but she always was doing it, and most of it from scratch, of which she never went by a recipe. It made it hard if you wanted to know how to make it because she really did not have an answer unless you are one of those that can make it by someone telling you " a little of this, and then add that until it looks right". Well that was not me, so the one thing that Grandma made sure I knew how to make was her homemade noodles-- I still don't do it like her because I cheat and use chx breast and add water and boulions, she actually would boil a chx and make her own broth and then use the chx in the soup. So under her food category my absolute FAVORITES were homemade noodles and huckleberry pie although she had a ton of stuff I would not refuse.

Another food thing I remember of her was making sure you had your daily servings of fruits and veggies and milk!!!!!