Grammy's funeral

My grandmother passed away last week at the age of 99. Frances Mary Anderson Avery was born on April 18, 1920, and lived a long and mostly happy life in western Massachusetts. She married my grandfather Henry when she was 21 and had 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren (7 boys and 7 girls). She was a talented artist and a collector of bells, a seamstress and knitter who made all her own clothes, a gardener and golfer and snowmobiler. She loved to laugh and had a mischievous streak. The Avery family gathered in Charlemont to celebrate her life together - my mom and dad and all of their generation were there, and all of my cousins also came, some with spouses, most without, and a few of the great-grands. Liesl and I decided to go together and we had a wonderful time re-connecting with family and exploring Grammy's house and Avery store.

We flew into Boston and stayed overnight right at the airport -- this was our view in the morning.

Bunny Foofoo was sadly forgotten at home, the first time Liesl had ever spent a night without baby bunny. She was so crushed to realize it on the plane at PDX; our primary goal in Minneapolis during our layover was to find a little lovey for her to cuddle during the 5 days we were away. Happily, we found this friend, a black lab that she named Comet.

Carl flew into Boston at the same time as us, so on Wednesday morning we drove across the state together. This was him trying to do Liesl's math homework and getting stumped on a question before finally declaring it impossible -- incorrectly written. I was really amused by the spectacle of the Intel engineer failing at 3rd-grade math homework.

 

And then we arrived in Charlemont, at D&K's and the AirBnB next door, where all of the cousins stayed. Liesl was immediately fascinated by the play house that D built for his grandkids, and had a lot of fun constructing rope pulleys, clambering up and over and around it, and swinging.

That evening was the viewing at a funeral home in Shelburne Falls, where we had a display of Grammy's creations and Liesl saved the day by reading and entertaining 4-year old Reid.

It was really wonderful to see all of our cousins again, to catch up, to share stories, to laugh together.

 

 

On Thursday, the funeral service was held at Charlemont Federated Church. Grammy's sister Eleanor was able to come, along with some of her children and grandchildren. It was a joyful ceremony filled with prayers, songs, speeches remembering Franny/mom/Grammy by my dad, aunt Peg, uncle D, and aunt Karen, and a lovely social hour.

 

And from there to the Arms Cemetery, where we laid her to rest. Karen sang Amazing Grace as her final farewell, and it was beautiful.

We spent some time going through Grammy's house and belongings, each of us picking out some souvenirs and family treasures - paintings, bells, silver, plates, sweaters, trinkets, jewelry, tools - the accumulated stuff of a lifetime. It felt vaguely transgressive to finally get to touch all the stuff, to open boxes, to take things down off shelves.

 

And then most of the family left. Carl, Liesl, and I stayed until Saturday, along with Luke and his family, and had fun exploring the store. Dad was in his element taking Liesl around everywhere, showing her the trapdoor and ramp, the old elevator, the cold room in the basement, the meat room, the old barn -- 

Popo and Liesl played golf in the backyard; D&K took Carl and me on a tromp through the woods behind the house, with Karen as naturalist, showing us deer and elk rubbings, a pine tree split because of a beetle, and pointing out where the mountain laurel would bloom in June and where she had seen a bird nest in a log.

Reid was very taken with our Liesl. He followed her everywhere and wanted to play with her all the time. Liesl was very taken with being a big sister. :)

 And then we flew home, through Atlanta -- exhausted but happy.