While we were home celebrating Christmas, we also mourned the loss of my Grandma Gene. It was very sad, but it was nice to spend a lot of extra time with my family.
We spent a lot of time reminiscing on memories as we looked through old pictures to make a slideshow. I also created a video to give the Words of Remembrance at her funeral. Here is what I had to say:
Thank you all for coming today, we are all very thankful you are here. I am Alexa Benson, Phil and Heidi's oldest child, and Paul and Rogene's first grandchild. As the first grandchild, I was given the privilege of naming our grandparents. Every single one of them was given a male name which pretty well stuck. My grandma gene wore it proudly. I think she would have responded to anything as long as some form of grandma was included. Being a mom and grandmother were some of her favorite things.How do I even know where to start when talking about the life of my grandma? Ten years ago, no one could have imagined this is how we would be spending my grandma's 74th birthday. I think she would have enjoyed having you all here today as she loved big celebrations. She was loved by many which has been very evident over the past few days. Thank you all for your love and support.We were just reminiscing the other day about an assignment I was given around Christmas time in elementary school. We were supposed to write about one of our favorite holiday traditions, and I couldn't think of a single thing. Luckily for me, my parents had just decided to do a little family fondue the weekend before. I ended up writing about that. However, I should have totally failed the assignment. We had never done the fondue before and we never did it again. If I could redo the assignment, this is what I would say: We had the best Christmases. My grandma always had her house decorated from top to bottom and never left one spot untouched. She was always ready for Christmas, so ready in fact sometimes the table was set so far in advance she had to wash the dishes again before Christmas because they were dusty. Christmas Eve was always such a wonderful time. We went to church that was also beautifully decorated several weeks before by my entire family because that was how my grandma wanted it. My entire family spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents. Everyone was always there. As kids, we enjoyed hearing my grandpa read us "The Night Before Christmas" and breaking open the piñata. We were all probably most excited to see what was waiting inside our Herberger's boxes during present time. I never realized how lucky we were to have the experiences we had and to be able to celebrate all together. When her house wasn't decorated for Christmas she was usually tending to her yard and garden. She made everything look good! I have to admit, this is one trait I did not pick up from my grandma as I cannot keep a cactus alive in the desert.
My grandma always was the best dressed no matter the occasion. We were all very excited to see the clothes she gave us for our birthdays. Then as we became teenagers, we got to go shopping with my grandma on our birthday. It was so special to spend the evening getting supper and shopping together. Sometimes aunt Heather got to come along too, which was always welcomed because she has great fashion sense, too.
My grandma loved to entertain, a trait I hope we will all continue. I would say that my mom and my aunts have done a pretty good job so far. While she was busy entertaining her friends, my cousins and I were busy developing skits to provide extra entertainment to her guests. One of my favorites was at my grandparents' anniversary party they hosted at their backyard. I don't remember exactly what we did but there were a lot of cheers involved and jumping around while holding the babies. Sometimes our skits were for all to see, other times they were reserved for family only. While on vacation in Tampa, we had a synchronized swimming competition. The video is floating around social media somewhere, but I am sure Ashton would appreciate no one looking for that!
We all loved getting Oreo cookies since she always had a jar full in her kitchen. Her garage fridge was also always full of caffeine free diet coke and diet Mountain Dew. Most of us grandkids have not yet taken to those, but maybe someday.
When I first brought my husband, Matt, home to meet my family, my grandma Gene was the first person Matt got to meet. She was her usual witty self and it was very evident Matt enjoyed himself. She left a great first impression with him and made it appear that our family was really fun. So thank you, grandma, I think you helped solidify to Matt how awesome my family truly is
I feel so blessed grandma gene was around for as long as she was. She was able to hold all of her grandchildren shortly after they were born. She watched all of her children get married and even a few grandchildren. And did she ever love weddings. We have learned so much from my grandma, and I hope a little bit of her legacy lives on in all of us.
The grandkids enjoyed putting together the beautiful video many of you saw this morning and the bulletin board of pictures you will see at the Community Building. Thank you all for coming, we love and appreciate you all!
My grandma always was the best dressed no matter the occasion. We were all very excited to see the clothes she gave us for our birthdays. Then as we became teenagers, we got to go shopping with my grandma on our birthday. It was so special to spend the evening getting supper and shopping together. Sometimes aunt Heather got to come along too, which was always welcomed because she has great fashion sense, too.
My grandma loved to entertain, a trait I hope we will all continue. I would say that my mom and my aunts have done a pretty good job so far. While she was busy entertaining her friends, my cousins and I were busy developing skits to provide extra entertainment to her guests. One of my favorites was at my grandparents' anniversary party they hosted at their backyard. I don't remember exactly what we did but there were a lot of cheers involved and jumping around while holding the babies. Sometimes our skits were for all to see, other times they were reserved for family only. While on vacation in Tampa, we had a synchronized swimming competition. The video is floating around social media somewhere, but I am sure Ashton would appreciate no one looking for that!
We all loved getting Oreo cookies since she always had a jar full in her kitchen. Her garage fridge was also always full of caffeine free diet coke and diet Mountain Dew. Most of us grandkids have not yet taken to those, but maybe someday.
When I first brought my husband, Matt, home to meet my family, my grandma Gene was the first person Matt got to meet. She was her usual witty self and it was very evident Matt enjoyed himself. She left a great first impression with him and made it appear that our family was really fun. So thank you, grandma, I think you helped solidify to Matt how awesome my family truly is
I feel so blessed grandma gene was around for as long as she was. She was able to hold all of her grandchildren shortly after they were born. She watched all of her children get married and even a few grandchildren. And did she ever love weddings. We have learned so much from my grandma, and I hope a little bit of her legacy lives on in all of us.
The grandkids enjoyed putting together the beautiful video many of you saw this morning and the bulletin board of pictures you will see at the Community Building. Thank you all for coming, we love and appreciate you all!
There were tons of people there to celebrate my grandma. We appreciated all the love and support we received over this difficult time.
We miss you and think of you every day, grandma.
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