I have better photos of my Grandmother than this somewhere. Like so many of them, they’re tucked away as negatives in a binder and I haven’t scanned them. I like this photo though. It was probably from my first visit to Vancouver, though it may have been my second. My brother and I stayed with them and we visited the sites. I’m the one who gives people tours now.

In August of 2000 I came out to Vancouver for a vacation with my soon to be wife and to celebrate my grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary. I hadn’t seen them in a very long time at that point: these are my father’s parents, and my relationship with them was strained by his departure. When I moved here I made it a point of visiting my Grandparents though. Once a month, at least, I’d drive down to White Rock to have lunch with them. It was nice.

When my wife told me she was leaving, White Rock was the first place I went. I remember standing on the steps of their house and being completely unable to speak for what seemed like forever. They were the first people I told.

My grandmother passed away a couple of days ago, gently in her sleep. For the last few years of her life she had been in Peace Arch Hospital after having had a heart attack at home that was quickly followed by several in the hospital. She never recovered and her mind started to go not long after. My Grandfather lived across the road and went to see her once a week, but it was hard for him: she’d ask him to stay, or wanted to go home with him and didn’t really understand what was going on. He told me once how hard it was for him. I think it was hard for him to tell me that.

She was a very proper lady—a fact which drove my Mother nuts sometimes. She was the only one of my Grandparents who wasn’t born in Canada too: my family is very Canadian, but Grandma Nelson was born in Europe and her family settled in Manitoba as farmers in the early 20th century.

The last few years haven’t been kind to her. I’m going to miss that very proper old lady.

Posted by skooter at 4:07 PM This entry is filed under Family.
This entry is tagged: Grandma Nelson, Grandpa Nelson, Obituaries