Elma Owens Johnson was my moms mom. She passed from this life on Sunday November 19th, 2017 in her room at Summerfield in Orem Utah. She was 90 years old.
Gram with her daughters on her 90th bday. With Gramps in Kanab on HIS 90th bday.
Gram with all 4 of her kids, Gram and Gramps with daughters and first grandchild, one of their last family pictures.
Oct. 10th, 2017 was the last time that I took a picture with Grandma. She was extra smiley and sarcastic that day and busted out her secret M and M stash for us. She walked Christy all the way out to the entry, she probably wanted to leave with us but she was a little confused.
On Saturday November 11th I went and played Skipbo with Grandma and Kelsey and Shaelyn. She was chatting with friends at lunch and then walking around without her walker or cane.
The Next morning is when she fell and hit her head in her bathroom. She had like 14 stitches in her forehead. She seemed to be ok and was doing well that evening. On Monday she started to get sick and by Tuesday morning she had pneumonia and seemed to be on her last leg. The Dr had said that she could have a brain injury with that type of fall and it would show in a day or two if she did. I picked mom up from the airport on Tuesday evening and went with her to check on Grandma. Gram opened her eyes to see us and she said “Hi Annette” and that is the last thing we heard her say. I’m convinced that she did sustain injury to her brain and then it took 5 more days for her body to finally give out and her spirit ready to leave this world.
The Funeral was on Tuesday the 21st in Kanab Utah. So, we drove to Kanab on Monday after school and we all stayed in the Hotel. We swam with cousins that evening and then stayed up late chatting with family
On Tuesday morning we enjoyed Hotel Breakfast and lots of hot chocolate before heading over to the church for the service:
This was the picture on the Funeral Program:
I got to be one of the people to share a few memories of my Grandma. Here is a little bit of what I shared:
“Grandma Johnson. Loyal. Beautiful. Stubborn. Mother Heart.
Honestly when I was little I sucked my thumb for the first 12 years of my life and Grandpa always had his pocket knife so I just hid from Grandma and Grandpa once a year when we would see them! They lived in Utah and we lived in CA so we didn’t get to see them much when we were growing up. But…
I do have good memories of them coming and parking their trailer in the church parking lot and if we were being really good they would invite us into the trailer one at a time to get a werthers candy!
Or when we would drive the 15 hours from Oroville to Orem so excited to sleep on the red shag carpet and stay at their house. Once there, Grandma would always make sure we had enough to eat and let us eat so many otter pops and drink gallons of milk. 12 kids can devour milk and otter pops but with the gross Utah water that we couldn’t stand to drink — we were really going through those!
Along those same lines, I remember eating amazing Sunday dinner that Grandma would make. Roast, potatoes and gravy. I’m pretty sure we have Grandma J to blame for the most delicious gravy and gravy making skills getting passed down to mother. The gravy to potatoes ratio is about 1 to 1 in this family.
20 years ago I moved out to Utah and I have lived near Grandma and Grandpa during that time. And at times during my college years they even let me live in their basement. I have enjoyed many visits with them in recent years. One of my favorite memories will be of Grandma holding my babies. She would always come over when we’d have another kid. A few times she even made it to the hospital to be one of the first to welcome the baby into this world. I liked to take my little kids for a quick visit and an m and m and a cookie 🙂 when they lived in the basement at Aunt Di’s. We’d give lots of hugs. Gram loved those babies so much.
I could go on about….
Chuck a Rama
Their beautiful flower garden that we tried not to trample
Or Gram always looking her best but always refusing to get her picture taken
Driving to CA with Gram and Gramps
Trying to make her play Yahtzee when she just wanted skipbo
Knitting, jacks, morning paper, 10$ birthdays
Or the Mosaic under the side table
But mostly I will remember Gram for being selfless and having a big mothering heart. ? she loved her kids so much that she would do anything for them or for their kids. She was so stubbornly selfless and loyal. These qualities live on in her daughters today!
I love you Grandma.
Some of Grandma and Grandpa Johnsons surviving siblings:
GRANDKIDS:
Carols family: Jer couldn’t make it.
Diane’s family: Kiley couldn’t make it.
Annette’s family: grand kids not pictured cause there are so many 🙂
It was a good day of celebrating Grandma. It was a beautiful day:
After the funeral and Interment a bunch of us met at the park to eat lunch and visit before heading home:
