This is the talk my cousin and I gave at my Grandma's funeral. We took turns sharing different memories on behalf of all the grandkids. Please don't feel obligated to read; it is just something that I want to remember.
Trent: Tracy and I had an awesome opportunity the
last couple of days to talk with all the grandkids about our experiences with
Grandma. We probably won’t be able to
share all of the awesome stories that we heard some funnier than others, but we
want to share a few today and really the goal is just to remember how
wonderfully she blessed our lives. As I
talked to everybody there was something that was consistent that I heard, that I
experienced myself was people said that Grandma was the glue that held us
together as a family and I totally agree with that. When I think of being a Sheffield most of my
experiences are at Grandma’s house or on vacation with Grandma something either
that she organized or definitely had her hand in. She really provided us with so many wonderful
opportunities that really a lot of people in the world don’t have to be
together and to just have a fun time.
The first thing I wanted to talk
about is the Valentine’s sleepovers which eventually shifted into the summer,
but there’s a lot of great memories and I see some of the grandkids all
smiling. One that Ashley told me that
was pretty funny is that we would sleep out in the summers, when she shifted to
the summer, we would sleep out on the lawn.
One time Grandma forgot to turn off the sprinklers on the lawn and so I
know Ashley and a couple of the other grandkids maybe got a little bit wet that
time, so that was pretty funny something that we would laugh about.
When it came to those sleepovers I don’t think that as kids
we really realized what that was all about.
We thought it was all about us.
She would funnel us all into the car and we’d drive to the dollar store
and we’d get to pick out something at the dollar store and we thought this was
all about us, all about the grandkids. I
always got like a ninja sword or something like that but for a lot of years it
was on Valentine’s Day. I don’t think I
realized until we were talking about it.
It wasn’t for us it was for our parents.
We probably drove Grandma crazy. In fact, my mom told me that at the end of
every year she’d say we’re not doing this again next year. We were pretty rowdy and rambunctious group I
know, but she kept doing it and it’s because she cared about us and not only
did she care about us as grandkids and something as simple as a dollar ninja
sword helped me know how much she loved me, but she cared about our parents
marriages enough that she would provide them time to grow closer together which
is much more valuable than a ninja sword or some makeup that probably broke
before you got home. I’ll forever be
grateful for that and now looking back realizing what the real point of that
was she was trying to teach us what was important with sleepovers and lots of
kids in the car.
Tracy and I will share some different experiences and go back
and forth.
Tracy: I wanted to talk about Grandma and
reading. I have a poem that I received
as a child that I think really describes her it says:
I love to go to Grandma’s house
‘Cause Grandma always reads to me
Before she reads
I know she needs
Her glasses, so that she can see
Wherever could my glasses be?
Grandma always questions me
We look in drawers, behind closed
doors
We check the closet shelves and
floors.
Then Grandma finds their hiding
place
A smile breaks out across her face
I gently sit upon her knee
And then my Grandma reads to me.
It was
something I always looked forward to going to her house and hearing her read
and I can still hear the sound of her voice as she reads Barney Beagle. She really made reading such a joy and I
really feel that she was a large part of instilling my love of reading in my
life. I was thinking about my childhood
and I know a lot of other kids were bribed with candy or other rewards, but in
my house I really wanted a book and time to read it and I think that was a
lasting tribute that my Grandma left me.
I know that
she really valued knowledge and education.
She spent so much time going to all of our graduations our high school
and our college and listening to thousands of names just to hear her grandchild
had graduated and she was there for them.
I learned personally that she valued education and my success when I was
attending BYU. I was going to school
full time and working part time to try and pay for it. A few times I was down to my last dollar and
I didn’t know how I was going to pay for all the bills that I had and suddenly
a check would appear in the mail from Grandma.
I know that she was prompted and the financial help was a huge
lifesaver, but more importantly I learned that she cared about me, that she
wanted me to finish what I had started, and that she valued education.
Trent: For a lot of years we went to Lagoon as a
family, which was a lot of fun, but I had forgotten how we got there. Grandma actually took an odd job it seemed
for Grandma to work at Lagoon. How it
was, was you worked so many days you got so many free tickets. So she would
work these days at Lagoon so that all of us could have a ticket to go and go as
a family. My mom said for a lot of years
she worked at one of the booths where you could win a big stuffed animal or
something like that. I just couldn’t
help but think although I don’t know if it’s a real story that Grandma would
warn these potential game players when they got up there that “you should save
your money for something else.” She can
probably confirm whether it’s true or not but that was another thing she taught
us. She was very frugal and very good
with her money and saved a lot maybe when she didn’t have a lot. I’ll always be grateful for the countless
hours she probably put in at a job that probably wasn’t the most fun in the
world for her just so that all the grandkids and we could get together as a
family and go to Lagoon.
Tracy: Another example of her frugality was the
couponing. When I was a kid there was
another bedroom in Grandma’s house and the door was always closed and I thought
it was some great mystery. What was in
that secret room? One day she left the
door open and I looked in the room and the room was covered with tiny little
papers in stacks everywhere. The carpet
was red and you could only see tiny little seams of the red carpet in the room
and it turned out that Grandma’s hobby was all about us too. She saved the UPCs and did coupons to meet
the mail in requirements to get products for us. Her basement was filled with
toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo. It must have taken her hundreds of hours to
collect all those things, but it paid off.
It was like a drug store down there and every Christmas we received a
package of various toiletries. In fact,
my husband and I, who have been married six years, just used up our last
toothbrush, last year. It’s the first
time I’ve had to buy toothbrushes in my entire life. She really taught us the value of
practicality and preparing for the future and to never pass up a good deal.
Trent: Camille and I had never bought toothpaste
when we moved to Wisconsin about a year ago and we didn’t realize what it
costs, so I agree with that one. We’ll definitely
miss that. Probably the biggest thing
that I heard from all the grandkids as we talked was about all the games with
played with Grandma. How many hours we
spent playing Nerts I don’t know. That
would be pretty hard to quantify. Some
of us were better than others so we had to give them a couple of extra cards so
they wouldn’t win all the time. I think
that competitive nature came from Grandma believe it or not. I think everybody agrees there and I see that
in our family. One thing that Ben and
Lisa’s kids told me last night about was pretty funny but showed who Grandma
was is; when they would play with her they would purposefully try to look at
the cards she had in her hand, so that Grandma would say "stop rubbernecking." It was her way of saying you’re
cheating. Grandma taught us how to have
a fun time to play together whether it was Nerts or 7 up or Phase 10 or any
other kind of games. In later years I
know we would play a lot of board games and she would say you’re going to have
to help me with this one. But she was
always ready to play a game whether it was late or early whether we were on
vacation together and it was 12 o’clock at night. She was allowing us to do that and be kind of
rowdy. She also taught how to give each
other a hard time too which I personally appreciated.
Tracy: Many of those hours that we spent playing
games were on our famous camping trips.
We first started out going to the Camper World. We noticed a pattern on those trips number
one was we were the only tent campers there and number two was we were
extremely loud because we liked to play games.
I know Grandma was yelled at several times by other campers and the
director for our rowdy behavior but she never cancelled our trip and we always
looked forward to it.
In later
years we moved to the Bear Lake KOA and in addition to our game playing we
spent time on the beach. What I loved
about Grandma is she was never one to sit by.
She wasn’t a Grandma that sat in a chair and watched everything. She was a Grandma that did it with us. She was always out on the wave-runners even
after she had her hip replaced. She was
out always yelling to go faster and telling us how to drive, with the occasional
threat that if we dumped her in the water we’d be in big trouble. I have many fond memories of those camping
trips and the time we spent together.
Trent: There’s a lot of other stories that we could
share. The last thing that I wanted to
say is that Grandma went out of her way to spend time with each of our
families. I think each of us can
remember maybe a favorite vacation that she went on with us, but one we did all
together was we went on a cruise. I just
remember just having so much fun even though there wasn’t a lot to do for kids
on the cruise, so much fun just being together.
I think that this talk is what reminds me of Grandma we had the chance
to play games together and be with her and it really showed that she cared
about us. She traveled all over the
world and all over the United States with us camping and going back east and
southern Utah and I’ll just always remember that. I think that really has come through with my
family and how we spend time with each other as well. I’m grateful for that and I think that
generations will be grateful for that as well.
It is important to be together as a family and to really know what being
a Sheffield is all about. I think she
taught me a lot about that.
Tracy: The last thing I really wanted to talk about
was her talent as a seamstress. She was
a master. From the time we were small
she spent time making quilts for each new baby and she even continued that tradition
to the great grandchildren. I remember
as a child that every year we’d look forward to a dress on our birthday that
Grandma had made. She spent many hours
selecting patterns and material and sewing it to make us look beautiful every
year. We’d each look forward every year
to go pick out our material as we got older.
Later when I
got married I picked out a beautiful dress that I wore and then my sister was
going to get married the following year and she wanted to wear that dress as
well. We are very different sizes. My Grandma lovingly unpicked my dress and
tailored it to fit Kaylyn. It showed her
beautiful handiwork and her value for us.
Her sewing was a labor of love and a true art form. I’ll always remember that and we’ll always
remember her tradition of giving us socks every year. Many people think it’s going to be some sort
of fancy gift that you receive on Christmas, but Grandma was always practical. I’m sure as you can imagine that getting a
gift for a growing family, for each member, was very challenging. She got us socks, white tube socks to be
exact. Somewhere along the way we realized that those were going to be our
permanent present and we decided to make it fun. Every year you reach into your bag and pull
out a pair of socks and shout “Yeah Socks!”
It was just a reminder of what she valued. She really made our experiences together fun
as Trent was saying. She made our family
time a priority and she filled our lives with treasured memories because of her
efforts we have such a strong bond and we do know what it means to be a
Sheffield. Grandma was widowed at a very
young age and built a legacy that Grandpa will be proud of:
The
Sheffield clan sir
The
Sheffield clan, are we
The
Sheffield clan and proud indeed to be
And it’s because
of you Grandma. We love you!
