Monday, February 11, 2008

Sweet Grandma Bradshaw

My sweet Grandma Bradshaw, who lived with my family for most all of my life, passed away a couple of weeks ago on January 26th. She was 92 years old. She was doing really well up until a couple of months ago when she was diagnosed with meningitis. She had a couple of times where she seemed to be doing better, but the longer she had to stay down in bed the weaker she became. At her age we knew it would be hard for her to make a full recovery. I was glad that I was able to take my kids and go up and see her a few times these last couple months. My grandma had lived with my family almost my whole life until shortly after I got married, she moved up to Prescott. She went up there to live at the Pioneer Home which is an assited living home. My grandma has a lot of fond memories of Prescott from when she lived there as a young teenager. When my grandma was only 13, she lost both of her parents within a couple months of eachother. It was then that she moved to Prescott to live with her older sister. I think she enjoyed the years that sshe pent living there and probably liked the idea of going back there to live again one day. Well, not long after grandma moved up to the Pioneer Home, she met a man named Larry who she became quite good friends with. When we would talk to her over the phone, it sounded like she was spending all of her time with him and that they loved the companionship of one another. They eventually decided that they wanted to get married! Keep in mind grandma was 88 years old (I think Larry was several years younger). I don't think any of us saw that coming, but when we went up there for the wedding, it was very clear that they were so happy together. It was so neat to see my grandma so happy, she couldn't stop smiling. She deserved all of this happiness especially after of all of the sad times she endured throughout her life. As the months went on after the wedding, we got to know Larry even better as we would go up and visit. It was so sweet to see the way that he cared for grandma. They both made eachother so happy. I feel kind of like we became Larry's family, especially because Larry had no grandchildren of his own. Grandma was always so happy when we came to visit and to see her great grandbabies brought her so much joy. There are so many wonderful things I could say about grandma. Me and my family were truely blessed to know her and be so close to her. She definitely blessed all of our lives in many ways and will be missed very much. My family will always be so grateful to Larry for making grandma's last few years such happy ones.
On their wedding day