My grandma passed away on March 13, 2008. I was devastated when my parents called to tell me the news. We all knew this day was coming...she was 96 and had lived a full and wonderful life but when that news hit me, I was still very, very sad.
I rushed home to San Antonio to help with whatever my mom needed help with. Her and my dad had already made all of the funeral arrangements, ordered all of the flowers, they had taken grandmas things that they wanted her dressed in, notified all of the family, etc...all they wanted me to do was work on a collage.
Well, I love pictures and learning about peoples histories so this, to me, was a great task. I was up until 3:30 in the morning making this collage. I learned a lot while making it. I don't know if you can see it but when you zoom in on the picture of the collage you can see that in alot of the pics my grandma was downtown walking...in some she is walking with her kids, there are some with friends, some of her alone. Anyways, I learned that back in the twenties and thirties photographers would just sit down town and take pics of people walking in the streets and then give you the opportunity to buy those pics. My grandma was photographed often so she had a lot of them. The oldest picture I found was dated back to 1924. My grandma was 13 years old. this picture was paper thin. We should definitely not handle it too much as it is very flimsy. I also learned that although my whole life we had celebrated her birthday on September 16th her true birthday was September 15th. She was born so close to midnight that her parents chose the 16th to celebrate her birthday so she could celebrate on diez y ses de septiembre which is some sort of a mexican holiday. I found her true birthday on her green card where her birthday is listed as the 15th. It was all very interesting. I tried to get as many photos as I could of her funeral.
I really like pictures of raw emotion. Not that I like to watch people cry but to see the hurt in their faces really shows the true love they felt for whoever it is they are mourning...in this case, my grandma. She was the greatest!! She honestly did not have a bitter bone in her body. she loved all of us for who we were. Whether we were college grads or high school dropouts. We were all special to her. She was the oldest of 8 children and she outlived all of them. So she truly was the matriarch of the family. All of her nieces and nephews and their children were there. She was one of the few who still handwrote letters to people and she was still sending those letters up to the day that she passed away. I spoke at her wake and somehow managed to make everyone cry. These were not my intentions. I only spoke truths about my grandma and my undying love for her. She will be greatly missed!! I will post my speech once I get it all typed. Here's a couple more pics of the funeral. I wish I would have taken one of everyone there...it was amazing!! We didn't even know some of them. You were great grandma!! We love you!!
I rushed home to San Antonio to help with whatever my mom needed help with. Her and my dad had already made all of the funeral arrangements, ordered all of the flowers, they had taken grandmas things that they wanted her dressed in, notified all of the family, etc...all they wanted me to do was work on a collage. 
Well, I love pictures and learning about peoples histories so this, to me, was a great task. I was up until 3:30 in the morning making this collage. I learned a lot while making it. I don't know if you can see it but when you zoom in on the picture of the collage you can see that in alot of the pics my grandma was downtown walking...in some she is walking with her kids, there are some with friends, some of her alone. Anyways, I learned that back in the twenties and thirties photographers would just sit down town and take pics of people walking in the streets and then give you the opportunity to buy those pics. My grandma was photographed often so she had a lot of them. The oldest picture I found was dated back to 1924. My grandma was 13 years old. this picture was paper thin. We should definitely not handle it too much as it is very flimsy. I also learned that although my whole life we had celebrated her birthday on September 16th her true birthday was September 15th. She was born so close to midnight that her parents chose the 16th to celebrate her birthday so she could celebrate on diez y ses de septiembre which is some sort of a mexican holiday. I found her true birthday on her green card where her birthday is listed as the 15th. It was all very interesting. I tried to get as many photos as I could of her funeral. 
I really like pictures of raw emotion. Not that I like to watch people cry but to see the hurt in their faces really shows the true love they felt for whoever it is they are mourning...in this case, my grandma. She was the greatest!! She honestly did not have a bitter bone in her body. she loved all of us for who we were. Whether we were college grads or high school dropouts. We were all special to her. She was the oldest of 8 children and she outlived all of them. So she truly was the matriarch of the family. All of her nieces and nephews and their children were there. She was one of the few who still handwrote letters to people and she was still sending those letters up to the day that she passed away. I spoke at her wake and somehow managed to make everyone cry. These were not my intentions. I only spoke truths about my grandma and my undying love for her. She will be greatly missed!! I will post my speech once I get it all typed. Here's a couple more pics of the funeral. I wish I would have taken one of everyone there...it was amazing!! We didn't even know some of them. You were great grandma!! We love you!!
3 comments:
While I am sorry for your loss I also know that from the pictures that you posted of her that she lived a full and beautiful life. I absolutely love the vintage pictures. She was a beautiful lady. I can see where you got your looks from.
Hugs
I'm sorry about your grandma, but happy that she lived a full life. That collage you made her is awesome. I love looking at old pictures of my grandparents and learning about their lives. I am actually scanning in a bunch right now and will share some soon on my blog.
i love reading tributes!! sad for your loss but excited for your reunion when you get to join and ask all those questions. seems like death is all around us but i find it hard to get sad because i think about the legacy and the greatnes they left and will continue to have as they live on with Christ.
wow that was deep! lol
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