Our Great G'Mac

We love Grandma Mac!  (Or G'Mac, as she preferred to write it.) G'Mac is actually Dr. Greeta Knight Brown, but Ben has referred to her as G'Mac ever since he was a little boy. The name came from her little black dog, named Mac, of course. G'Mac is Ben's mother's mother. This is the last picture we have of the great grandkids with her, from a few months ago. She passed away on June 10, 2012.  She went peacefully in her sleep and would have been 89 next month. We miss her so much already!

The kids each knew G'Mac personally. She lived close to us for a couple years and I'm not sure whether she had the kids wrapped around her finger or vice versa. 

G'Mac's funeral was in Utah on June 16. She moved there a couple years ago to be near Ben's brother, Matt, and the other great-grandkids. She had lived near us for a couple years too. I'm so glad that we all got to know her well. Last weekend was really special with family as we paid our respects. Ben's mom flew in from Alaska and his brother Andrew flew in from Texas. (The silver lining for sure!) The funeral program was really nice and memorable. I know G'Mac would have loved it. 

I have to include this picture. G'Mac always told Nicole that her name is "Nicole Rachel ANGEL Nelson," with a whole lot of emphasis on "Angel" - which isn't really part of her name, officially. But it might as well be now. Nicole was watching the slideshow solemnly until this picture came up. I love her smile. More pictures:

Cathy, Matt, Ben, and Andrew

G'Mac was an amazing lady. Here is the link to her obituary: 

http://lmtribune.com/obituaries/article_57fa3313-cab1-5bd3-9d05-2bbea13b8f8f.html

Of course the kids and I have only known G'Mac in recent years. We have a lot of wonderful memories of her though, and it's been neat to go through our many photos with the kids. 

 

G'Mac's first visit from Alaska, when Nicole was just a few weeks old. Look at little Jonathan and tiny Zach! They loved her immediately. 

G'Mac was never afraid to jump in and have fun with the kids. 

I love this picture of Ben and his grandma. It was Christmas Eve at my parents' house and we were all being quiet during the Nativity lesson. (Well, most of us were.)

When G'Mac moved to live close to us in the spring of 2008, we were thrilled. We loved visiting her, eating her treats, taking her shopping, and dragging her along to our programs and on mini trips. I will always have fond memories of G'Mac "helping" me with the kids as we went places. I'd often find her twirling them in circles in the parking lot or singing loudly in the grocery store. And everybody could see that Grandma was to blame, so I didn't mind one bit. The kids' favorite place to take her was the Dollar Store. Nicole's first big word as a toddler was "tapioca," which she only ever ate at G'Mac's house. 

When Greg was born, G'Mac walked to the hospital in the rain to greet him. I was so touched. This is a week or so later. And look at that picture of Nicole. She is so TINY even though it seems like this happened just yesterday. 

We loved celebrating G'Mac's birthdays with her. She came to several of ours as well. 

This is one of my last memories of G'Mac.  It was in Ogden a few months ago, and Ben and Matt were teasing her relentlessly.  She took it in stride and teased right back without missing a beat.

Here's Joshie with his Great-Grandma Mac. She was delighted when I emailed this picture to her and she sent it to all her friends. 

G'Mac left us with an enormous treasure of memories. One of our favorites is the special songs she sang to our kids. Each of them had a turn to "Ride a Cockhorse to Banbury Cross" and I'd forgotten I had this video of her with Greg, from December of 2009:  

http://youtu.be/1QjXXRaBV2k

As I was screening the video just now, Greg heard G'Mac's voice from the other room and came running. He keeps having me play it over and over again, with a huge smile on his face. We miss G'Mac a lot already, but we are so happy to have her in our memories.