Grandma Wanda Hancock Allen

I have been thinking a lot about the life span. As my grandma Allen became closer to death, we visited her and we had a sweet moment, when my sister Ann was holding baby Cora near her my sweet grandma looked over and whispered "what a doll" the last words I heard her speak before she left this life. Later as I was holding my sweet baby girl before her bedtime, I thought about her life and how she has only been on the earth for a short eight months. She has started her life as my grandma finished her life. I thought about how babies need so much care and as we age we sort of turn back to the child like need for care. It makes me more grateful for each day we have on this earth. Life is precious.

Even the word funeral gives me anxiety, I know the reason is most likely I was forced to deal with this word early in life and in a shocking way. But this funeral was a true celebration of my grandma's life and a beautiful thing to see all of her posterity together. The ward had a nice thanksgiving dinner. The talks were so nice some of things said were: When my grandpa asked for her hand in marriage, her mother said "Do you think you need her more than I do?" And my grandpa's reply was "I don't know how much do you need her?" Another story I liked, was when she lived in Grover, Utah, her only transportation was by horse. She was raised in a very proper home, so in order to go to church she would put her clean, pressed dress and shined shoes in a paper sack and put one boy in front and one on the back and ride until she was close to the church and would change her clothes in the woods and then walk into church looking clean and nice. My grandma loved to dance, sing, play the piano and make productions, she would write new words to old tunes for family gatherings and she could get everyone to participate. She had home remedies she used like salt on open wounds, raw potatoes for warts, boric acid for acne, butter for burns to name a few. She expected good living and reinforced positive behavior. She loved pink and made dolls for us girls including raggedy anns, cupie dolls and porcelain dolls. When I was a teenager and would visit her, my grandma would ask how much I weighed then after I told her she would tell me "You look just like me when I was your age." My Uncle Stan tells me often that I look the most like my Dad out of my siblings and he thinks it comes from my Great Grandma Hancock and my Grandma's line. I am grateful for my grandma and what an important influence she is in my life. What a lady, she lived a good life.