 |
| ... Sharon Jonsson ... |
Sharon was a genealogist at heart and a person who spent many volunteer hours working in the genealogy library, helping people to sort out the pattern of their own progenitors.
She did that for her own family as well.
And she did that for my family of origin -- helping me carefully trace births, death and marriages. In fact, when I took on a project of my own, to get American citizenship for my children, I already had many of the documents I would need, because I had heeded Sharon's advice many years before.
I still use one of the by-products of Sharon's intense love of family relationships. That is, one Christmas she produced a Family Registry. In it were the names of her siblings, and of their children and their grandchildren. But there was more to the document than just names. She had their addresses, their phone numbers and their emails. I like those boxes. Lots of room for my edits. Lots of clean white space around names and addresses.
On the first page she had written "let's keep in touch".
I hole punched my copy and put it in my three-ringed binder that is also my telephone directory. I go to that document often, and update phone numbers or emails as necessary, for Sharon gave me a good start at "keeping in touch".
Sharon's middle name was Rose.
I knew that because I would hear her say something about her middle name whenever I was with her and she would look at a piece of china that had a rose on it. In retrospect, I should have bought her a plate or a cup and saucer whenever I saw one with a rose on it, for I thought of her whenever I saw one. Not that she couldn't have purchased whole sets of china with roses on them.
She may have had a better way. I think some of her grandchildren called her Grandma Rose. Why not. A lovely middle name for a kind and generous hearted woman.
Her funeral will be held Saturday, October 7 in the Tipton Road Chapel (5927 Tipton Rd NW, Calgary), viewing at 10 am and service at 11 am.
Arta
See her obituary
Dear Arta,
ReplyDeleteTonight I am especially missing my mother. Since it has been over a year now since she passed away, I reasonably know that I can't just call her up on the telephone to have the chat that I'm longing for. So, on a whim I decided to type her name into Google to see what memory of her I might find written there. Much to my surprise, beyond her obituary, I found your Larch Haven blogspot post. Thank you for taking the time to record these lovely thoughts about my Mother. They have brought the solace I needed this night and, as a result, my much missed mother feels closer somehow. I, too, cherish my family relationships. I am especially grateful for you, dear aunt. I hope you will always keep writing and--in the process--continue to bring life to life for us all.