All About Elsie

Last weekend, my Great-Great Aunt Elsie died, 30 days before her 100th birthday. Last fall, some of her things were sold at a local auction place and I wrote about it HERE. The weekend before her death we had a warning that things were winding down for Aunt Elsie. In fact, I wrote about how we went in to say our goodbyes and that was when she woke up and started talking! For a couple days she went down to the dining room and even ate at a table but by Saturday, she was really fading. My mom spent that day with her reading to her from the Bible and just keeping her company even though she wasn't really responding. When my mom went to leave, she said goodbye and suddenly my aunt opened her eyes and smiled. Anyway, I am really thankful for all the chances we had to say goodbye to this neat lady. Not everyone gets the chance to do that with their loved ones but in this case, we did. The pictures of Muffin, Mator and Doodle above were taken last November which was the last time she made it out to my mom and dad's house.

To me, I'll remember my aunt as a great adventurer, someone who loved babies and a woman of great faith. Until her early 90s and well after her husband died, she continued to travel on cruises and group trips around the world. As a child, she would bring me dolls from her visits and so I have quite an extensive and varied collection. As for the babies, even though she never had any of her own, she particularly liked to hold and entertain them. This is good because just from my grandpa (her nephew) she had 3 great nieces, 8 great-great nieces and nephews and 12 great-great-great nieces and nephews. Plus my grandpa had 3 brothers and sisters with all of their families and Elsie had a brother with a family I don't even know!

Her faith was her foundation and she told me so herself the last time I saw her alive. I told her that I had read her old prayer journal and was blessed by her expressions of faith. As evidenced by her faithfulness and the very words in that journal, she desired to serve God every day and show concern for those around her. What more could I aspire to myself?