My Grandmother was the last true matriarch of my family. A tradition that has survived for countless generations is now gone with her. The family had already begun to scatter to the winds with the loss of the timber industry and commercial fishing where we were. As the family scattered it became a more difficult role, but she could with a single phone call accomplish a lot were the family was concerned.
She was our center, the only reason that some of us even knew what was happening with the rest of the family. She arranged for help for those of us in need and support for those of us who were hurting. She was always there with advice or even just an ear to vent to. A wise woman in a world that had long forgotten the old ways. She lived her life not for herself but for her family.
When she was young she was a wild child touring the country and doing what she wanted, but as her children were born she buckled down and became a strong mother. Ensuring her children knew their roots, and the values that kept our family strong. I know nothing if not one thing, and that is who I am and who the people were that came before me. I also know what they did to make my world better. She made sure everyone in our family knew what it meant to be loved and supported in spite of our faults.
On april 26th 2007 she passed from this world and into the next, due to complications that arose from a botched surgery. Through the anger over what happened to her we were all blown away with the grief, and in her death she accomplished a family gathering the likes of which has not been seen in many many years. She will be missed, but she will also be remembered and loved for as long as any of us are alive her name is recorded and her deeds will be told and remembered until the old ways final die their last in this blood line.
