My mom's mom passed away on July 7, 2011. I will miss her very much. She was the best grandma anyone could of ever had. I had a chance to speak at my grandma's funeral. It was such an honor to speak at it because I can never repay her for for all she did for me as a grandma. I love you grandma.
This is a picture of my girl cousins.
This is a picture of all of the grandchildren.
These pictures were from last Christmas with my grandma and grandpa at the Spaghetti factory.
I put my talk in this post in case anyone wanted to read it.GaNene Ford
I was asked to give a talk today on the memories that the grandkids had of Grandma. We mostly called her Grandma NeNe. The reason being is that when I was little I couldn’t say GaNene so she became Grandma NeNe. The consistent theme that everyone said was that she truly showed love to us in every way possible.
The other popular thing that all of the grandkids remember is the four-year old trips. What grandma did every year until she was unable to was to take all of the grandkids on a trip away from our parents. It was a break for us and our parents. We looked forward to it every fall if we were over 4 years old. It didn’t matter where we went; our favorite thing was swimming at the hotel swimming pools. Grandma would let us jump on the beds at the hotels because she told us it was our only chance to jump on a bed. We thought that was great. She would have little goody bags or backpacks for us to have things to do in the car. The first one was in Mesquite with me and Shana was there too. We went to Lava hot springs a couple of times, Idaho, Park City, homestead, Bear Lake, and Ogden. Grandma and Grandpa took me to Mesquite again for my last one before I got married. They went a few times after I got married they went to Heber and stayed in a hotel downtown SL. Some of the activities besides swimming was the Heber creeper, rode trax when it first opened, Kennecott copper mine, Park City haunted mine, alpine slide, and the golden spike. They always took us to nice dinners and grandma loved showing off her grandkids to everyone at the restaurants.
Grandma would always be the first one to take care of me and my brothers when my parents couldn’t. Like when my mom was in the hospital having my little brothers. When my dad’s father passed away, she picked me up from elementary school and told me about it and took care of us during the preparation of the funeral and during it.
Grandma was always very proud of us grandkids. She would brag about us to everyone. She would always say my granddaughter’s a “Dental Hygienist” like I was a brain surgeon or something. She always knew and wanted to know everything that was happening in our lives.
Grandma was always supporting us in us in all of our sporting events, piano recitals, or anything important in our lives. Last Year at Stockton’s championship football game she came in her electric wheelchair. Her battery was really low and Stockton’s game was clear across the field, but she slowly made her way across the grass so she could see him win the championship game. When I was little she spent a lot of time with me and my mom. We would go shopping at crossroads mall. I remember taking lunch over to Grandmas house a lot also. If any of us went to grandma’s house to visit she would always have treats for us and toys to play with. My favorite was the old little peoples she had and the little trucks to play with.
Grandma was always very affectionate towards us. We always received lots of hugs and kisses.
Every birthday you could count on a call from grandma NeNe and a call from the Fords to wish you a happy Birthday. For each year that we grew older grandma and grandpa would put a dollar for each year that we were alive in our birthday cards. We couldn’t wait for the next birthday to get one more dollar. One of Grandmas birthdays a few years ago I took her out in her Cadillac to Chili’s for lunch and shopping at Kohl’s. I never heard the end of how much she loved it.
Every Holiday she made so fun for us. We loved looking forward to the traditions that she set. On Easter she always had an Easter Egg hunt and she made deviled eggs to die for. Every fourth of July we would go to the Centerville parade with her and the celebration after. Just before Halloween every year we went on something we called the pumpkin run. We’d drive out to Maddox for dinner but pick out a pumpkin at the fruit stands on the way. We would always go trick or treating at grandmas and she would have a special treat set a side for the grandkids full of cookies and treats. At thanksgiving she made the best yams around. At Christmas time we went to the Spaghetti Factory and to see the light at temple square. At the Spaghetti Factory she would give us an ornament every year. I am grateful to have 26 ornaments to remember grandma by. On Christmas day we would have a nice breakfast at her house and she would over spoil us with lots of gifts.
I asked all of my cousins what there favorite memories of grandma were.
Sadie- Living with Grandma the first 7 years of my life. Grandma always winning at bingo at her assisted living homes.
Scott- She genuinely cared about us. She would always tell us she loved us. She never complained even though she had more than her share of physical ailments. She wrote to me quite a bit on my mission too.
Cody- One time she asked where Weston was at and I said downstairs. Grandma thought I said onions instead. So she said, “onions? Downstairs?” We always had an inside joke between us. I loved her sense of humor and her love and acceptance of everyone.
Stockton- When grandma got her leg amputated, me and my mom would go and visit her in the hospital often. We would stop by hires a lot before seeing her and I would save half of my hires hamburger for her. She never stopped talking about how much she loved that hires hamburger. Another favorite memory is when I broke my femur and we were both wheelchair bound together. It was nice to have someone who knew what I was going through.
Weston- When I danced with grandma in her wheelchair at Brittney’s wedding. Also when grandpa hit a cat on the four-year old trip and grandma was freaking out about it.
Brittney- When I was first married we went to Disneyland with my family and grandma and grandpa and Shana and Sadie. Grandma got us in the front of the line on a bunch of rides because of her wheelchair. On the jungle cruise they asked her if she could just get out of her wheelchair and get in the boat because I think a lot of people use the handicap thing to get on the rides quicker. She really was wheelchair bound though. So they had to lower her into the boat with a crane and it was beeping loudly. If it was me I would have been embarrassed but she was just waving like she was the show. I loved that she didn’t care and was just so happy to be with her family at Disneyland.
Nick- Getting babysat by grandma all day while Zack went with grandpa to work. She got me hooked on the price is right. I also loved all of the traditions she set for our family.
Tiersa- The way that grandma held your hand when she talked to you. It felt like she was always trying to show you how much she cared and loved and supported you. She was always interested in what you had to say but if you asked her how she was doing she rarely complained.
Morgan- My funnest memory was the four year old trips. She made it fun because she would always be there even though she was going through her hardest times. She always wanted to make sure I was okay.
Olivia- I love her so much. My favorite memory is when she would hug me. I loved to play with her doll at Barton Creek because I loved being with grandma. She also told her mom that she wanted to send her message in a balloon up to grandma.
Mason- Mowing her lawn and chattin with her on my breaks. My favorite memory was her at her Christmas party last year when she stole the polar express book and jetted in her jet 7 to her room.
Tyler- I remember watchin the price is right with grandma when I was younger, and she always would give me complements whenever she saw me.
Zack- My favorite thing about grandma is she is happy no matter what when she was sick and all.
Kierra- When I would randomly go over to her house and we would talk for hours. I could tell her anything and she would never judge me.
Amber- Whenever I’d talk to her she would squeeze my hand real tight. She had a love for everyone and she always had a smile on her face. The four year old trips were always such a fun time and I looked forward to spending time with grandma. Also the Christmas tree ornaments will always hold a special place in my heart. Greatest grandma ever.
With all of the physical health problems grandma had the past 10 plus years, I feel like the reason she kept pulling through was because of her love for us. She fought so hard for so long to still be a part of our lives and now I have a feeling that she’ll still be there for us even though she’s not physically here anymore.
