6/18/16: Remembering Grandma June

June 18, 1916, was a wonderful day.  This was the day June Aileen Smith (later Wahrenbrock, then Brown) was born in the small town of Smithton, Missouri.  My beautiful Grandma.  She would have been 100 years old today.

 I love looking back at pictures of her as a young mother to my mom and Uncle Gary.

I was grandchild number six and there was never any doubt how much my Grandma loved me.

As a young girl, I remember always looking forward to my week spent at Grandma's house during the summer.  This was time for just Grandma and me and I loved it.  I can remember making date-nut bread with her (it was my favorite!), going shopping at JC Penny's, and eating Kentucky Fried Chicken.  We'd watch Wheel of Fortune in the evenings and I'd be amazed at how good she was at this game.  She'd tear up as she told me that Grandpa Brown never let a day go by without telling her he loved her.  Grandpa is in the picture above.  Sadly, he died when I was 3 so I don't have many memories of him. She absolutely loved her dog Mitzi who, although I didn't find any actual pictures, looked an awful lot like this:

She always fed Mitzi cottage cheese and my mom never bought cottage cheese, so until I was much older, I thought it was dog food :)  I was with Grandma when she picked up Mitzi's ashes from the vet.  I remember that day so vividly as we both sat in the car and cried.  She never did get another dog.  

When I stayed with Grandma, she didn't make me sleep in one of the guest rooms; no, she let me sleep in her AWESOME heated water bed with her!  And I tended to be a crazy sleeper as a child.  I'll never forget when I woke up to her kicking me one night.  I asked her why in the world she would kick me and she responded, "Well, you kicked me first!"  That's my sassy Grandma.  She loved her grandkids with a passion.  Here we are as young 'uns (minus John who wasn't born yet). . .

. . . and here we are much later at her 85th birthday celebration. . .

. . . and at our last Christmas with her.

Even though she lived 2 hours away, Grandma made sure to be there for all of the important events in our lives, from my confirmation as an 8th grader. . .

. . . to my graduations, both from high school and pharmacy school.

I remember Grandma had a favorite Chinese restaurant in Sedalia where we would eat, and one time as she, my mom, and I walked in, the Chinese man who seated us took one look and said, "The human gene is an amazing thing!"  Yes, my mom looked just like my Grandma, and I certainly favor my mom.  I love that I get to take after Grandma Brown.

Grandma was always giving back to others and serving her God.  She faithfully sang in the church choir, served as Sunday School Superintendent and attended Bible studies.  She held the longest membership of anyone at the First United Methodist Church in Sedalia, over 70 years.  She also volunteered at Bothwell Hospital in Sedalia for nearly 40 years.

I know Grandma was as happy as could be when the next generation of grandkids began.  Here are a couple of sweet pics of her with her first great-grandchild:

Her first meeting with my Calvin James was on Christmas day 2005, when he was one day old.

About a month later, Calvin was in love with his Great-Grandma June as she sang to him.

This was one of our last visits with Grandma.  She had just celebrated her 90th birthday and wasn't doing too great at this point.  We knew our time was limited with this sweet woman.  I remember the nurse at the hospital joking with Grandma that she was going to have two men fighting over her when she made it to heaven, as she was married to my mom's dad, Harry, as well as my Grandpa Brown each for over 20 years.  I can't imagine losing two husbands.

When I think of my Grandma Brown, memories of Tri-Ominos and Stir-Crazy popcorn come to mind; dying Easter eggs and doing manicures together; her beautiful violets and fuzzy steering wheel cover; her love of bowling and traveling; the way she cried almost every time she told me 'good bye'.  I can't believe she's been gone almost 10 years.  I'm so sad that my children never got to know her, but thankful that I was blessed to have her in my life for 26 years. I'm thankful that Calvin was able to be held in her arms and listen to her sing; I'm thankful that Oliver has her 'sparkling' brown eyes; I'm thankful that both of my girls remind me of her: Violet because of her love of African Violets and Evelyn June because she shares her name.  

Heaven truly has two gems in these two standing with my mom.

And I could not have possibly had two better grandmothers than these two beautiful women.

Happy 100th birthday in heaven, Grandma Brown.  I love you always!!