Grandma Strempke

We recently lost our Grandma Strempke after 99 incredible years with us. She had been on the decline so her passing wasn't completely unexpected. Unsure of how to manage my feelings about her passing, I sat down 2 days after she died and wrote this. I think it is accurate on the whole, although some details may be amiss.

I've been thinking about what to do with it, the purpose of me writing it, should I share it at all. I still don't have the best answer other than hopefully posting it on the blog can be a way of sharing how much Grandma meant to me and encouraging others to think about her life.

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My Grandma was a pretty amazing woman. She has seen a lot in her 99 plus years. She lived through the Great Depression which shaped the rest of her life. She raised a family with little and created generations of so much. So many things changed. Society grew up and evolved. Grandma didn't. She was who she was, and that was a pretty special lady.

It take a good bit of stubbornness to live through the age of cars in the US and never get her drivers license. That stubbornness served her well as it has her children, grandchildren, and beyond.

She made amazing apple pie. Everybody thinks their Grandma's apple pie is the best, but my Grandma DID without a doubt make the best. I grew up on my Grandma's apple pie and I've been trying to find one that matched it for 2 decades without success.

She was married 25 years...twice. Most people can't say that one time! I never knew my biological Grandpa, but Grandpa John was Grandpa to me. They loved each other dearly, and they raised me in many ways when I was a young child.

But father time catches us all, and as amazing as Grandma Strempke was, she was no exception. It seems like yesterday Dad caught her painting her house on a sweltering July afternoon. Normally that wouldn't be a problem except she was on a ladder and well past her 80th birthday. Dad worried that she would outlive her ramshackle house, and she darn near proved his fear was right. When her vision and hearing began to abandon her, she once again proved that she was wise beyond her age, asking to go to a nursing home. She feared burdening her family, but as her faculties abandoned her, she still had her family, her children. She had all she needed.

My Grandma was an absolutely amazing woman. I am so happy that she has joined her Father in heaven. As she lived faithfully in God's image on earth, so she shall rest in peace in Heaven. I love you Grandma.