My kids will always remember her as "your white haired Grandma." Here in the our house we have lots of grandmas so we have to clarify. I loved her beautiful white hair! It was so soft.
Grandma wore a silvery wig for a long time before she let her snow white hair show. I was a little frightened the first time I saw her without her wig.
Whenever she and my grandpa visited from California, they took us to McDonald's. That was really exciting for us. And they even gave us a dollar and sang the alphabet backwards.
I really looked forward to their visits. When I was really young, it was I guess kinda hard to tell the difference between my grandma and a lot of the other older women with short hair. We had some home teachers/visiting teachers that were also older, and I remember one day they came over and I was so excited, "GRANDMA!" ooops. No it wasn't her and I was very embarrassed.
I remember sleeping on their floor in California the night before heading to Disneyland. It was so hard to sleep that night!
I think that was the morning I ate Corn Flakes in the carport with Grandpa. He was always so sweet. I loved his blue, blue eyes.
I think as we grew up and learned more about her life, we understood why she was so fixated on the church. She lived a great deal of her life without having a strong testimony. She had some adventures. And it wasn't until my dad went on his mission that she really gained her faith. She and my grandpa served a mission together in Atlanta, GA. And probably during that time she was writing a lot of these letters.
Grandma related best to us when we were adults. It was then that she wanted to talk to us and liked to visit. When I moved to California, I drove out to her house in San Jacinto every once in awhile. She always reminded me to call Jared when I arrived, because she knew if I didn't he'd be calling to check to see if I made it. I was pregnant with Elise and I remember sitting at her house and hearing about her pregnancies.
She was extremely sick with my dad and couldn't eat anything. The smell of toast was enough to send her to the outhouse. She and my grandpa were living in a log cabin with a dirt floor during that time. He was a geologist and had some assignment in New Mexico. They had been married four years before she finally got pregnant, and it was ten years until Ron came along. I wish I had written the story of how she found out she was pregnant. I don't remember the details, but that it was a surprise both times since she had been trying for so long.
My dad was born in Salina, UT in a tiny hospital. Back then, they knocked women out to give birth and she had a pretty awful labor and delivery. I think he was transverse. After my dad was born, she had post-partum depression. She didn't know what that was of course in those times. But she had a hard time enjoying things and not being nervous. My grandpa referenced this in a letter he wrote her for one of their Anniversaries. She had a much easier time after Ron was born ten years later. It is sad to me that she had to endure so much without really understanding why it was so hard. That must have been difficult.
On one of those visits she gave me a quilt that was made of her mother's old housecoats. She made it clear that she LOVED that quilt. Her mama died when she was in college. She couldn't bear to plan a wedding without her, so she and grandpa eloped to Taos, New Mexico. Apparently they didn't tell anyone they were married for five months?! Her sisters were disappointed that they didn't get to help plan a big wedding.
Her daddy was Christen Peter Jensen, a Danish rancher in Manassa, Colorado. Her mother Estella Mortensen was the daughter of Lars Mortensen, who crossed the plains in the Willy Handcart Company. She loved her mother and father and I could always sense how deeply she loved and respected them when she talked about them. It was very hard for her when her father remarried. He died shortly after and his new wife wouldn't let her or her sisters have any of their mother's things, and that made her really upset.
I loved looking at all of her old photos. She and grandpa went to Detroit and bought a car and drove it home. On that trip they visited New York City and all kinds of fun places all over the U.S. They also have pictures in Mission San Juan Capistrano when the swallows returned. It is fun to see all the adventures they had.
We will miss you grandma! I know you are so thrilled to be with Grandpa again. I am glad you are not bored out of your mind or in pain. And I will think of you often. One of these days we'll make the trek to Manassa for the 24th of July celebration and I will get to see the legendary hometown of yours!
