Grandma Bodily

My Grandma passed away last week. She died the day before her 96th birthday. It was sad to see her go but at the same time it was a blessing. She has been in an assisted living home for some time now and has been wheelchair bound. I think it must be so difficult to watch your body stop functioning while your mind is screaming, "What happened?!"

Grandma Bodily was an amazing woman. She was born in 1914 in Los Angeles, California. She went to UCLA and studied microbiology. She became a lab technician and eventually moved to Berkeley. It amazes me that she did all this in the 1930s! She met my Grandpa at the lab where she was assisting him in perfecting the influenza vaccine. What a match made in heaven, these two scientific minds.

My Grandpa was a widower with two little girls, one of which was my Mom. Her mother had died a few years earlier when my Mom was only 3 years old. As my Mom put it, she is eternally grateful that my Grandma loved her father so much that she decided to marry him and become their mother as well. She and Grandpa went on to have 4 more children of their own but she loved my Mom and her sister as if they were her own.

My Grandma was such a cute lady. She had this round face, rosy cheeks, a twinkle in her eye and such a great sense of humor. Even in her last few years she still had that twinkle in her eye and loved a good joke. She always wore her hair up in a braid that wrapped around her head. She was curious, intelligent, creative, resourceful and a hard worker. She loved to be outdoors; hiking, camping, working and swimming in the ocean.

My favorite memories of my Grandparents were of summers spent at their farm in Midway. Grandma worked hard in the fields, helping Grandpa with the cows and working in her garden. I loved helping her in the garden and sitting outside on the front porch shelling peas. I loved wearing her old boots down to the barn and watching her do crossword puzzles. She had an endless amount of knowledge, she seemed to know every bird, flower, plant and loads about geography. I remember her cooking things in this big pressure cooker. I remember pistachio ice cream, cherry chip cake, rhubarb pie and gooseberry cobbler.

It was hard seeing her in a wheelchair and watching her body decline. I remember her being so full of life and being such a strong woman. It was difficult visiting her and carrying on a one sided conversation when she used to have so much to say. Her eyes would light up when she would watch my kids and I wish that they had been able to know her as I had known her.

She left a lasting legacy for all of her family. I always assumed she was a member of the church and never found out that she wasn't until I was a teenager. She was always involved in the church and raised her children to be faithful members with strong testimonies of the gospel. She was finally baptized about 13 years ago and their family was all sealed together in 1998. I am thankful that she is now reunited with Grandpa, her parents and her sister. What a joyous reunion that must have been. I will miss her but I know I will see her again. Thank you Grandma for your love, your happiness and your shining example.