A Tribute to my Great Grandmother

It is nearly impossible to pay tribute to a woman who truly lived every second of her 95 ½ years of life. This woman had class. She had style. She was an all American farm girl who grew up in North Central Montana. She was not rich, but what she lacked in money, she more than made up in her love for her three children, ten grandchildren, twenty-three great grandchildren and thirteen great great grandchildren. She was a beautiful woman- a hero and a model citizen. Lucille Marrie Nash lived a legacy and I am blessed to call her my great grandmother.

This past August, Grandma and I sat on her porch swing and talked about her life. I asked her about life growing up on the farm and about her siblings. Her face would light up when recalling these memories- memories that had not faded one bit over the course of her life. She told me about her childhood and the heartache she experienced having been born with a clef palate. She told me about her brothers Ray and Roy and all of the trouble they would get into. She told me about when she met her husband and their life on a farm where she raised her three children: Diane, Walline and Bill. I asked her what it was like to run the liquor store in Chinook and she told me all kinds of funny stories! She recalled how grateful she was to have a Democrat as a president as she was provided the opportunity to work as she watched her country struggle following WWII. She told me about her travels throughout our great country and how those trips always gave her an appreciation for what she had.

This woman has seen it all! She was born on the eve of the first Great War, and grew up during the Great Depression and the Stock Market Crash. She went to work during the first recession American citizens would experience, and endured the uncertainty the first attack on American soil, followed by World War II. She lived through the Cold War, the Vietnam War as well as the most recent wars of the 20^th Century. She endured loss on the most personal and intimate level. In 1963 she lost her husband. Five years later her brother Ray passed away and in 2001 and 2003 she lost her daughter Diane and son Bill, respectively.

And so, I will always remember my grandma as a survivor. She was a woman of strength and courage. A fighter for what she believed in. I remember spending a portion of the summers of my childhood at her house where she taught me how to make “new peas and potatoes”, lefsa, and rhubarb jelly- to go on the ice cream she loved so much. I remember her beautiful dresses and high-heel shoes that she would go dancing in. I remember all those summers when my cousin Andi, my brother Burk and myself would go down to the city pool and swim for hours and she would still be tending to her garden when we returned. She had some of the most beautiful flowers in town.

And that is why we are all gathered her today. We are gathered to celebrate the life of one extraordinary woman. She was the glue that held our family together. And now as we forge on without her, we must remember what she stood for. She stood for love and for peace. She stood for an honest day of hard work. I am forever grateful for the sacrifices she made for the family she loved. I am confident in saying she will forever be remembered as the lady in the high-heel shoes.