Goodbye Grandma Sally

We all knew Grandma wasn't doing well because she was diagnosed with Peritoneal Cancer (the lining of her stomach) at the first of this year. She fought her way through all of the chemotherapy treatments and was able to finish them all. The chemo lowered her cancer levels and shrunk all the tumors in her stomach.  But she never seemed to be able to regain her strength. We thought she would have until Christmas before she passed away, but that wasn't the case. 

Two weeks ago, Heidi heard from grandma's nurse that grandma's blood pressure was really low. So she was going to admit her into the hospital. The only way they were going to let grandma go back home is if someone could be with her 24/7. And because Heidi was I'm Florida, she sent Robyn to be with her. 

The day after Heidi got home from Florida (9/25/14) she got another phone call from grandma's nurse that grandma wasn't doing well. Heidi then talked with grandma and from the sound of her voice, Grandma sounded really week. Grandma asked Heidi when she could be there. Heidi told her that Tony (grandma's nephew) would be there for a week, then Heidi could be there the week after. Grandma then told Heidi she didn't think she could last that long.  So Heidi booked a flight for the next morning (Friday Sept 26). It was that night, when we received the phone call that grandma had passed. I truly believe grandma was holding on until Heidi got there. Such a tender mercy. 

From that point, we had to wait until we knew when the funeral would be.  We knew we  would have to make sacrifices to get our family to Denver. But there wasn't even a doubt in our minds that we should be there. When we learned the funeral would be on Thursday Oct 2, we started to plan out how we were going to get there. 

Because I work Wednesdays through Saturdays I needed to reschedule several clients. And Jesse worked Thursday, so he had to find a trade for part of his shift. We decided that Jesse would drive down Wednesday morning with the boys and I would fly down Wednesday night after work. Then we would all drive home together on Friday.

Thursday morning we all got ready for the funeral. A family in Grandma's ward offered up their house to us to stay at while they were on vacation. Another tender mercy. I was grateful not to have to pay for a hotel and to have the comfort of a home.

All of Grandma's children and grandchildren that were attending the funeral that day had all come in from another state. So it was really good to see the whole family. The last time we were all together was at the July 2013 Family Reunion. So I was really excited to see everyone. It's a sad reason to be together, but good at the same time.

We all gathered together an hour before the funeral to give our last goodbyes to Grandma. When it came time to close the casket, we each went up to bid her farewell. I snapped a quick photo when Grandma's children gathered around her.

The funeral service was very tender. Between Heidi and Uncle Matt's words of endearment, Uncle Christian & Emily's vocal and voilin duet of "Be Still My Soul" , and the grandchildren's musical number  of "Love One Another", there wasn't a dry eye in the room. I'm sure Grandma was honored and pleased.

Grandma had purchased her funeral plans over 20 years ago. And in those plans it had a police escort to the grave side and 2 limousines for her children and their spouses. Pretty cool.

When we arrived to the cemetery I realize it a military cemetery. I hadn't known that Grandpa Bohm had served in the military. Jesse told me that Grandpa had fought in WWII. That's really neat.

The cemetery was breath-taking. All of the headstones were perfectly aligned. As we were driving past them I couldn't believe the perfection.

I had never been to such a graveside service. It felt so official. And it was just beautiful! Dad (Mike) gave such a profound dedicatory prayer for the grave site.

Ya know, I remember back when Jesse and I were first married or even just engaged, he couldn't wait for me to meet his Grandma Sally. The way he talked about her really touched me and has stayed with me to this day. He always talked so highly of her. So it was really important that we were there this day. Grandma Sally had a special place in Jesse's heart. And it spread over to my own heart. She really was a special woman.

I know I said this back on Grandma Mickey's post, but I really am so blessed to be a part of this family. Heidi is such an amazing woman that I aspire to be like. And I'm without a doubt sure she got a lot of her defining attributes and characteristics from her Mother Sally.

This whole group of wonderful people traveled from across the map to be there for Grandma. We had people come from Utah, Kansas and California to be a part of this momentous occasion.

After the service was over we went back to the church for a yummy lunch that the Relief Society Presidency from grandma's ward prepared for our whole family. It was so wonderful of them to do that for us. What a service and a blessing that was to us all.

We all then went back to relax and hang out together before we went to dinner at La Loma Mexican Restaurant.