She was someone who always had a kind word for anyone and everyone, she was very soft spoken(really soft spoken)
She was talented, she loved the computer, and her"pages" that were updates, pictures, postcards, and other thoughts on her hometown of North Adams Massachussets.
She wrote a book "Growing Up On Jacobs Ladder," she loved her home town, and people from her home town loved her.
Gram was what I would call a free spirit, she always wanted you to follow your heart and dreams and not worry about the other stuff.
Me, my sister, and Gram were sitting in the car waiting for mom to come out of the store, and Gram said shit, me and my sister were teasing her saying oooo you said a swear word, that's when she told us that it was ok to say shit, it was just another name for poop. When my mom got into the car my sister and I were saying shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, my mom freaked out, she was yelling at us and when we told her that Gram said that it was ok, the look on Gram's face was priceless, it was a look of innocence and I am thier Gram so it's ok. But when my dad heard us say it, it wasn't ok;}
My sister and I went out to stay with Gram over Thanksgiving. While we were waiting for one of our uncles to come, we were hungry so we were in the kitchen picking and that's when Gram yelled "Gram's not going to feel bad if Gram burns somebody!" That was the first and last time I ever heard her yell or should I say raise her voice, because she really was so soft spoken that it was more of like talking instead of yelling and of course my sissy and I found it so funny.
Gram liked to talk on the phone, she would call often and by often I mean she would call and hangup and then call right back. It was a little irritating but than I realized that Gram was just lonely and she also liked to talk A LOT;} When she would hang up she would always say "Your a smart and beautiful girl," or if she was talking to my son she would say "Your a smart and handsome boy"
That brings me to when her first great-grandson was born, my Gram flew in from Puyallup to be there with me and my son. She was in love from the first moment she laid her eyes on him, when I asked her if she wanted to hold him she got pale in the face and was really scared, so when she sat down I put him in her lap, so she didn't have a choice.
My son absolutely adored Great Grandma Shirley and she absolutely adored him!
Gram also enjoyed photography and of course her video camera, she was always behind the camera so the pictures that I do have of her are all the more special, you could always count on a birthday card with the kindest words inside signed, Love Gram B.
So it is today that I say with a heavy heart;
You passed so suddenly we didn't get a chance to say goodbye, but I aspire to be like you, you are the worlds best Gram, Great Grandma Shirely, and friend that any of us could ever have! We love you and miss you very much!
