My Grandma passed away today. I hope when the time comes I can read this:
Ruth Ivans was born an only child. It was a fact she quickly made up for by raising two children of her own. Today she has 6 grandchildren, 8 great grand children and one great great grandson. All 16 of us are as diverse a group as you will ever find. Two proudly served their country in the armed forces. We are artists, businessmen, star athletes, musicians, scoutmasters, computer programmers, and honor roll students. At the center of this rather large family is the one woman who made this all possible.
I know each of us became the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters we are today because of Ruth Ivans. In her family I see the values that would make her proud. Ruth Ivans taught all of us about sacrifice and unconditional love. Her advice, sometimes solicited and sometimes not, was always tempered with a helping hand. While she tried to do what she could for others, it was a rare occasion you would get a phone call from Grandma asking for something. She always worried about being a burden to those she loved and when the time came were she could no longer be self-sufficient, she was reluctant to trouble anyone with something as simple as a ride to the supermarket.
Today many of you will meet the family that Ruth Ivans loved so much for the very first time. This is her legacy to the world. Her children and grandchildren are not perfect people. We’re not all 6 feet tall, nor do we have Harvard MBAs. What you will notice about us is that we are genuine people with good hearts who try to do the right thing. We don’t always succeed, but we have some big shoes to fill. Ruth Ivans cared for her husband Galen for years as he suffered through ALS. She watched each one of us battle our tragedies and celebrate our triumphs and through it all we knew when the dust settled our mother, grand mother and great grandma would be there to help us pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and make it through another day.
This family that Ruth Ivans gave the world is a group of some of the finest parents I have ever seen. I’ve watched my siblings and my cousin become the type of parents any child would love to have. They love their children through bad choices, bad attitudes and the bruises that life delivers (both emotionally and physically). I have no doubt in my mind that as we all grow older and the years tick by we will remember Grandma and try every day to live a life with dignity, grace and genuine love. We will become the type of Grandparent that we were all lucky enough to have.
As an adult, I read the words of Jesus when he said, “what does it benefit a man to worry?” I thought they sounded very familiar and they did, because this was the lesson Grandma was always trying to instill in our hearts. One of her favorite sayings was “I spent half my life worrying about things that never happened.” I think today she would want us each to remember the wisdom in those words. Now is not the time to worry and feel the anxiety of a losing a loved one, but instead a time to celebrate how lucky we all are to have the lives we have. These are lives that were not only blessed, enriched and enlightened by Ruth Ivans, but also made possible by her.
Ruth Ivans was born an only child. It was a fact she quickly made up for by raising two children of her own. Today she has 6 grandchildren, 8 great grand children and one great great grandson. All 16 of us are as diverse a group as you will ever find. Two proudly served their country in the armed forces. We are artists, businessmen, star athletes, musicians, scoutmasters, computer programmers, and honor roll students. At the center of this rather large family is the one woman who made this all possible.
I know each of us became the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters we are today because of Ruth Ivans. In her family I see the values that would make her proud. Ruth Ivans taught all of us about sacrifice and unconditional love. Her advice, sometimes solicited and sometimes not, was always tempered with a helping hand. While she tried to do what she could for others, it was a rare occasion you would get a phone call from Grandma asking for something. She always worried about being a burden to those she loved and when the time came were she could no longer be self-sufficient, she was reluctant to trouble anyone with something as simple as a ride to the supermarket.
Today many of you will meet the family that Ruth Ivans loved so much for the very first time. This is her legacy to the world. Her children and grandchildren are not perfect people. We’re not all 6 feet tall, nor do we have Harvard MBAs. What you will notice about us is that we are genuine people with good hearts who try to do the right thing. We don’t always succeed, but we have some big shoes to fill. Ruth Ivans cared for her husband Galen for years as he suffered through ALS. She watched each one of us battle our tragedies and celebrate our triumphs and through it all we knew when the dust settled our mother, grand mother and great grandma would be there to help us pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and make it through another day.
This family that Ruth Ivans gave the world is a group of some of the finest parents I have ever seen. I’ve watched my siblings and my cousin become the type of parents any child would love to have. They love their children through bad choices, bad attitudes and the bruises that life delivers (both emotionally and physically). I have no doubt in my mind that as we all grow older and the years tick by we will remember Grandma and try every day to live a life with dignity, grace and genuine love. We will become the type of Grandparent that we were all lucky enough to have.
As an adult, I read the words of Jesus when he said, “what does it benefit a man to worry?” I thought they sounded very familiar and they did, because this was the lesson Grandma was always trying to instill in our hearts. One of her favorite sayings was “I spent half my life worrying about things that never happened.” I think today she would want us each to remember the wisdom in those words. Now is not the time to worry and feel the anxiety of a losing a loved one, but instead a time to celebrate how lucky we all are to have the lives we have. These are lives that were not only blessed, enriched and enlightened by Ruth Ivans, but also made possible by her.
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