Remembering Them

With Memorial Day coming upon us, I want to take some time to reflect on loved ones who have passed on into eternity:

Charles Henry Fredericks
My grandpa, who died in 1972, when I was only four years old. Sadly, I do not remember him. I only know him through photos and shared memories. I do know this, that he loved his family and was thrilled to have grandchildren. He and my grandma had 11 children and since his death there have been numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren and even great great grandchildren added to the family! He had a son named after him, my "Uncle Chuck", a grandson "Chuckie" and a great grandson "Charles" as well as another grandson "Matthew Charles".

Anna Mary Fredericks
My grandma, who died in 1990. There are so many memories of this wonderful woman. Oh how we doted on her and she loved every minute of it. Things that remind me of her: Coca Cola, Crotcheting, Game Shows, Card Games, African Violets, the Potato Soup that I now make and Muumuus (look it up if you don't know what that is). I remember how proud she was when John and I stopped by her house with our firstborn on the way home from the hospital. I remember stopping and seeing her at the hospital in my wedding gown because she was hospitalized and wasn't able to make it to my wedding. I also remember the day she died. I was going shopping with a friend and had just dropped Josh off at my sister's. As I was pulling out of her driveway, Kristie ran outside and motioned for me to come back. That is when she told me that Grandma was gone. I was in disbelief. We had just celebrated her 80th birthday that summer and I'm so glad that we were able to love on her and be with her for that wonderful celebration. My eyes well up with tears as I think of how much that I really do miss her.

Oh, and her parents actually came over from Lithuania through Ellis Island and I got to see their names etched into a large memorial there a few years ago. That was really neat.

Timothy Michael Lynch
My sister's third son, who didn't live past 20 weeks gestation. I was not present at his birth, but remember the day very well. Little did we know, God was leading us to salvation and it would be through this little one's death. Little Timothy would be five years old today. He is experiencing such joy, the extraordinary, supernatural joy that we have yet to experience ourselves. He is also holding the hand of his baby sister, Hope.

Hope Rachelle Lynch
My sister's fourth child and daughter, who also didn't live past 20 weeks gestation. I was present at her birth and it was amazing. So tiny and fragile. God was with us in that room. We could feel the comfort of His presence. It also comforted us to know that she was with the Lord as well and with her big brother Timothy Michael. Someday the both of them will share with us their journeys, from their prespective and what they experienced in the heavenly realm.

Danny Lee Fredericks
This is a tough one as well, in a different way. Uncle Danny was only thirty-three years old when he took his own life. I won't elaborate on that, but I will go on to tell you about what a fantastic guy he was. He was always the clown. The life of the party. My Mom's baby brother. Father of four: Gary Lee, Shawn Marie, Heather Anne and Matthew Charles. Sadly, now the grandpa of five grandchildren that he would never meet. Gary Lee is so much like him. The last memory I have of Uncle Danny was at my cousin's wedding in 1984. He was wearing a silly looking apron because he was helping out in the kitchen at the reception. That is how I want to remember him.

Lanie Eugene Fredericks "Uncle Gene"
Uncle Gene and I shared a birthday. I remember going to his house as a child to spend the night with my cousins: Kelly, Marty and also little Theresa. I remember when the famous softdrink "Tab" was out, he was always drinking that. Isn't that a silly memory? He has been gone several years. He was a diabetic.

Janice Brown
She was married to my cousin Steve for some time in the 80's. They later divorced and she remarried, but I can't remember her last name when she died. Anyhow, Jan and Steve used to hang out with my parents quite a bit. They had a son, Steven, and I used to babysit for them. I remember spending the night over there and her taking me to see "Mommy Dearest". She would always compliment me and Kristie when we were teenagers, "how young and pretty and skinny we were"....yeah, I wish I could hear that again. I believe the last time I seen her was at Kristie's wedding, which was back in 1996. She died when I was pregnant with Alec. It was a snowy day and her and her husband were on their way up north. There was a horrible car accident and she was killed instantly. At the time it didn't mean anything to me, but I think about it now and smile. At her funeral, the pastor talked about how Jan had very recently accepted Jesus as her Savior and how she would come to church with the Bible tucked under her arm, hungry for the Word. What a pleasant vision.

Alfred Mack Cooley
My "PaPa". Kristie and I were his only grandchildren (my Dad is an only child) and we have many, many fond memories of spending time with him. He died when I was only 9 years old. Its where my red hair comes from! Unfortunately he was a pretty big beer drinker and died of a massive heart attack, beer in hand, while shoveling his mother's walkway in December of 1977. He had a heart of gold. I remember going to Niagara Falls and Saute St Marie on trips with him and my Grandma. I remember him pulling Kristie and I around in a wagon of some sort, in his large yard on Cooley Lake Rd, behind his garden tractor. I remember going to K-Mart and buying paper on sale. No big deal, but it was so funny and such a vivid memory. It was my grandparents, Kristie and I, along with our cousin Allen. Since there was a limit on how much you could buy, he would give us each money to buy our limit in separate lines. We would then bring the paper out to the truck and go back and get more, in different lines. I don't recall how much we actually got, but it was a riot. I remember helping him in the large garden at his mother's house in Davisburg. He would send one of us girls to run in the house and get him his Pabst Blue Ribbon. He was only 47 years old when he died. Way too young.

Thelma June Cooley
My Grandma, who died when Josh was a little over a year old. Actually, it was just 2 months or so after my Grandma Fredericks died. She was a trip. She was quite the mother-in-law to my Mom. Now my Mom was only 17 years old when she married my Dad. My Mom couldn't make a bed "the correct way, according to Thelma", to save her life. She was also a beer drinker. She loved us girls though, and would "show us off" to just about everyone, everywhere when we were pre-teens. She knew so many people at different business locations (the bank, Big Boy, stores...etc). We were so embarrassed. She made awesome homemade cinnamon buns. And I mean awesome. She would take us shopping and buy us just about anything we wanted. My PaPa died so early on and we continued to spend a lot of time with Grandma after that. Unfortunately, with the combination of alcohol, probably loneliness, a little extra money for herself and frequenting bars, her life slipped away into not a whole lot at the end. She did some crazy things, but she was our Grandma and we of course loved her.

Mabel Cooley
My great Grandma, who died just about a month after my Grandma Cooley. She was a full blooded Cherokee Indian. Out of her eight children, three of them were red-heads. My PaPa was one of the three, although they were actually more strawberry blonde. I remember visiting her house during family reunions or just going for dinner with my grandparents. Either she or her son Burt who lived with her, had two dogs. I think they were dachshunds. I remember us kids would play Parcheese on the floor in the front room. She lived to see two of her children pass away, my PaPa and Uncle Burt. I hadn't seen her in years before learning of her death. Oh, and I remember her having a sister named Bertha.

Shawn Anthony Wedge
He is not family nor really a "loved one" per say. He lived down the street and I grew up with him. He died the fall after John and I were married. His death was very tragic. I don't know all of the details, but I know enough: he was playing around with a gun and took a chance that it wasn't loaded and pulled the trigger, close range, at his head. His life was snuffed out at twenty years of age in that foolish instant. To say his parents were devestated is a ridiculous understatement. His mother Nadine could never get past the traumatic emotions she most likely experienced every second of her life after that day. She would later take her own life by sitting in her vehicle in her garage, poisoned by the carbon monoxied. I remember going to Shawn's for birthday parties and even just going over to play when we were in kindergarden. I can still see Mr. & Mrs. Wedge and Shawn driving in their truck past our house all those years. When I had Josh, Nadine came to see me in the hospital. She brought me a tiny little blue bib. She was very happy for me but you could see it was also extremely difficult for her. I believe she wasn't able to attend my bridal and baby showers as well as my wedding. Several years later, while my Mom and I were visiting my grandparents' graves, Mr. Wedge was at his wife and son's graves, not very far away, bawling. It was so heartbreaking.

As we remember those who have passed on, let us also remember and cherish those who are with us now, every day that we have with them. Someday we will part.

How will you be remembered?