Grandma Great

5 Generations!

How many 31 year olds can say they have a Great Grandmother? Probably not many, but until this morning, I was one of them. I was one of the lucky few to enjoy having a great grandmother for 31 years of my life. It is with great sadness that I bid her farewell today. Emily Luing was an amazing woman whom we always called "Grandma Great." Here is the link to her obituary: http://www.legacy.com/SaltLakeTribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStoryPrint&PersonID=103833089

I have often wondered if she ever realized the impact she had on this world ...

• 5 Children
• 20 Grandchildren
• 52 Great Grandchildren
• 36 Great Great Grandchildren

W O W !!!

One of the most impressive things about those statistics is that Grandma Great remembered everything about everyone! I was one of 52 great grandkids, yet she knew everything about me. She sent me a card for my birthday every single year. She came to every important event. Most importantly, she always made me feel special and loved, as if I were her only great grandchild. How lucky I was to have her in my life for so long.

For those of you who did not know her, here's some information you might find interesting. On June 17th, 1906 Emily Watson was born in Grimsby England. She lived in a small town on the coast where her father was a fisherman. She once told John and me that the smell there was so bad that "it would gag a maggot!" I'll never forget that line, along with other funny things she used to say. Grandma Great always had such funny things to say ... she never held back and her observations were usually right on. She and her family came to the US through Canada on her 16 birthday, (6/17/1922). The one thing she remembered most about that journey was that someone offered her a piece of grape flavored candy on the ship. From then on, she hated anything grape flavored. To this day, I can't look at anything grape flavored and not think of my Grandma Great.

Emily married Harry Luing and had 5 children, one of which was my grandmother, Betty (my father's mother). Emily was a widow for about the last 45 years, living independently in her own home until 2 1/2 years ago. I have so many memories of her old house in Salt Lake ... my dad would take my sisters and me there whenever we had a birthday. She had this fun tradition of letting us stick our hand in a huge glass jar full of pennies ... we had one shot each year to reach in and pull out as many pennies as our little hand could hold. Looking back, it was such a simple thing, yet we loved it and looked forward to it each year. We thought she was so rich! Another tradition was visiting Grandma Great on Christmas day each year at her home. I found this picture from 3 years ago, the last Christmas she spent in her home:

Christmas Day at Grandma Great's house 12-25-04

Here are a bunch of pictures I found from my visits to Salt Lake over the last 3 years:

6/19/05 - Just after her 99th Birthday - I was 10 weeks pregnant with Reagan

10/16/05 - She came to a baby shower my family threw for us - I had Reagan 6 weeks later

3/12/06 - Grandma Betty, Reagan, Grandma Great

6/17/06 - At Grandma Great's 100th Birthday Party

6/25/06 Reagan and Grandma Great

6/25/06 Reagan and Grandma Great

6/25/06 Grandma Great, Reagan and Amanda

9/5/06 Grandma Great and Reagan

9/5/06 Grandma Great, Reagan and Amanda

This is the last picture I have of Grandma Great and unfortunately, it was over a year ago. This was Christmas Day last year, 12/25/06. We didn't realize it at the time, but it was another 5 Generation picture!

I saw Grandma Great one last time on my last visit to Salt Lake, on June 30th, 2007. I was so upset that I left my camera at home that day, especially because I had one of those unforgettable moments as a parent. It was my very last day in town and I took Reagan with me to visit her. Right as I pulled into the parking lot, Reagan threw up everything in her stomach, covering herself in throw-up! Of course, this was the one time I was NOT prepared, so I had nothing to change her into. I stripped her down to her diaper in the parking lot, wrapped her in a beach towel that happened to be in the trunk of my mother's car, and went inside to see Grandma Great, despite the smell and appearance of my daughter!

I'll never forget Grandma Great ... she was such a big part of my life and I feel so incredibly blessed to have known her. I hope to have half as much energy as she did when I reach 100!