Ashley Christ Wed, Apr 1, 2015, 9:29 PM
I love my grandmother
Grandma I love you so much! Thank you for all you have done. You always make delicious Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I always loved the fun card games around the big kitchen table and you teaching me to play spoons. You always have a warm and welcoming heart. You always open your door to us when we visit during our trips to KY. I am so thankful that you attended my high school and college graduations. More importantly, it meant the world to Josh and I that you and Grandpa were able to come to our wedding. You are one of the nicest and compassionate people I know and I am proud to call you, grandma!
Jennifer Parr Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 7:34 AM
I love you, Grandma!
I have great memories of you all throughout my life. I got to be your flower girl- even though I don’t remember this, I love that I got to be part of such a life changing g day for you and Papa. You have always been there for me with a listening ear and loving heart. I think of all the holidays at your house and all the hard work you put in on that wonderful food. I still think of it each holiday and think that each dish should taste and be just the way you did it, I miss being together and sitting around the tables at your house.
Everything you do is in love. I have been excited to show you my kiddos and your excitement and instant love for them is irreplaceable.
You are the only grandma I have ever known. I am so thankful that God sent you to us ‘. He is so good. And you are such a blessing to so many people! I love you!
Brian, Smith Sun, Mar 29, 2015, 9:10 AM
Holidays at the Gates!- Grandson
Grandma,
You are such a giving person, and you always showed acts of service by the way you took care of my family, my grandfather, and my wife! For as long as I can you remember, Ashley and I would come visit you guys for he Holiday’s and you would open your home to 40-50 people and would not sit down until every single person was fed! This was your personality, always giving. Thank you for your caring heart, and always providing delicious food for my family!
You have demonstrated how to love your spouse by the way you took care of Grandpa! Always looking out for what was best for him, and providing care. For this I will always be Grateful!
Parker McGuffey for grandma
Mon, Mar 23, 2015, 6:12 PM
What Is a Grandmother?
Contrary to most children’s families, there once was a boy born into a family with only one set of grandparents. However this is not a farce or a tale of neglect; this is a story of the love given to a boy equaling that of two grandparents. This extraordinary woman was this boys world when he was around her. As you may have assumed, this woman I am talking so fondly of is my one and only grandmother.
Grandma, as I have grown into the 18 year old body I have now, I realize just how lucky I am to have such an amazing woman in my life. Most times kids grandparents are not prevalent in their lives or make an impact in them. Exactly like the Webster’s dictionary definition “Grand-moth-er; /ˈɡran(d)ˌməT͟Hər/: the mother of one’s father or mother.” I want to give you a gift; I want to show you how I view a grandmother purely from having and loving you all of my life.
A grandmother is a child’s world. She lets you watch cartoons for hours when you’re parents let you watch animal planet and play on a calculator. When your small you sleep in her bed with her, nagging her about wanting to play with the heated comforter the whole time, and finally falls asleep after you make her sing the lullaby’s Mom and Pop usually sing you until she gets them right. A grandma is someone who, once she gets them right, remembers them the rest of the endless sleepovers in the future.
However I will warn against every allowing grandmothers near your head if they lure you in with, “here sweetie, let me comb/dry your hair.” (Allot 3 days recovery; gently massage head with shampoo in salt bath twice daily)
A grandmother is someone who can yell at you but make you feel how much she loves you at the same time. She could hear the worst thing about you and defend you until the end of the earth. She will listen to a seven year old’s babbly nonsense as they sit on the edge of the bed looking through photo albums of us when I still had Jaundice. (she also teaches you fun nurse terms like that )
This reflection is not to talk about everything we did together, because that is not how my grandmother is. This reflection is to show the character of a selfless, loving, mature woman who will spend the rest of her life listening to a 3 year olds gibberish and just hold a conversation of nonsense.
Grandma, all of those times that I woke up next to you as a kid in the morning I think would be the best way to explain how much I love you. We would wake up to your alarm clock, I was always on your left, and you would start doing physical therapy. I would sometimes do it with you just because I thought it was fun or I would sit there cross-legged and count along with you. We would sneak past Grandpa’s room and you would pour me a bowl of cereal then go and ‘get ready.’ But I never thought you needed to get ready.
I see you as the most beautiful woman in the world, and I am a terrible person to ask how your hair looks, because I will always have the same reply. It’s perfect. Don’t ask me if I love you, because I don’t think words express how much you mean to me. As I have matured, I have deepened my understanding as to why you are wonderful. At age five, you could ask me why I love my grandma and I would say because she is my grandma. Now I don’t even think I could name all of the reasons. You are the only person I will walk slower for. Just because I love when you hold my arm. You are the only person I let kiss my cheek with lipstick on. You have never missed spending a birthday with me.
If I know one thing for certain, I will love my grandmother and never stop. You hold a special place in my heart and I wish there was a way to express emotions through words. If you just glean one thing from this letter, know that I would go to the end of the world for you, if that were what you asked. I may be a Grandma’s boy, I dunno.
When I was thinking of what to write I decided to find out what the true meaning of a grandmother is.
What is a Grandmother?
A grandmother is a remarkable woman.
She is a perfect combination of kindness, laughter, and love.
She overlooks our faults, encourages our dreams, and praises our every success.
From -Kensey Gates Flannery
Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 9:09 PM
A grandmother has the wisdom of a teacher, the sincerity of a true friend, and the tenderness of a mother.
She is someone who we admire, respect and love very much.
A grandmother will always have a cherished place in our memories and in our hearts.
She’s someone who we want every happiness in return for all the joy she brings to us.
A grandmother is all the dear and precious things in life…
When she’s a grandmother like you.
I love you very much grandma and am so thankful to have the best grandma in the world! Thank you for all the non stop support.
-Kensey Gates Flannery
FROM: VERLA GATES
Mar 28, 2015, 2:49 PM
LETTER OF GRATITUDE TO CHRIS
LETTER OF GRATITUDE TO CHRIS, MY GRANDSON I INHEIRITED BY MARRYING INTO THE GATES FAMILY
CHRIS, MY GRATITUDE FOR YOUR CARING AFFECTION AND ATTENTION TO ME CANNOT BE DESCRIBED.
;YOU WERE THERE WHEN POP POP NEEDED HELP DURING HIS DECLINING MONTHS WITH US, FILLING IN FOR ME WHERE I WAS NOT ABLE TO ENDURE. THANK YOU FOR GIVING FREELY IN OUR TIME OF NEED.
I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR YOUR COMING TO SEE ME AND OUR TIME WE CAN SPEND TOGETHER AS WE SHARE AND HAVE A WONDERFUL VISIT. YOU ARE TRULY SPECIAL AND CARING IN SO MANY WAYS.
YOU HAVE SPENT MUCH TIME KEEPING MY OLD COMPUTER RUNNING AND PUTTING SAFE GUARDS ON IT. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR ME, I AM SO GRATEFUL.
THE SURPRISE, CARING GIFT OF A NEW KEYBOARD FOR MY BIRTHDAY WAS SUCH A WONDERFUL GIFT FROM YOU, AL, AND JEANNIE, I WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL.
I LOOK SO FORWARD AND AM GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SCHEDULED VISITS, AND KEEPING MY SHAKLEE SUPPLIES FROM DEPLETING.
I AM GRATEFUL YOU CAME BACK TO LOUISVILLE FROM GEORGIA THESE PAST YEARS WHERE YOU COULD BE WITH YOUR MOTHER, LAURA, THERE FOR HER, SHARING GREAT TIMES TOGETHER. YOU WERE THERE ALL THOSE MONTHS IN HER DECLINING BATTLE SHE SO BRAVELY FOUGHT, AND MINISTERED TO HER THROUGH IT ALL. I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LOVED HER AND STILL FEEL THE PAIN.
YOU ARE THERE FOR DAD, AL, AND SHARE SO MUCH TOGETHER THAT MEANS SO MUCH, GRATEFUL FOR YOUR LOVE AND CARING FOR HIM.
KEEP BEING YOUR LOVING, CARING, PERSON AND I KNOW TIME WILL HEAL THE HURT YOU HAVE ENDURED IN YOUR LOSS – I LOVE YOU, GRANDMA GATES
FROM: VERLA GATES
LETTER OF GRATITUDE TO JEANNIE
BEFORE I GOT TO KNOW YOU WELL AFTER I MARRIED POP POP, HE SAID YOU HAD SUCH A CARING ATTITUDE FOR HIM YOU WANTED TO TAKE CARE AND CONSOLE HIM AFTER LAVERNE PASSED AWAY. GOD HAS ENDOWED YOU WITH HIS LOVE AND CARING FOR OTHERS ALL YOUR LIFE.
YOUR FAITH AND RESILIENCE HAS BROUGHT YOU THROUGH ALL YOUR LIFE’S TRIALS, PRAISING GOD ULTIMATELY FOR BEING WITH YOU..
YOU OPENED YOUR HOME TO ALL THE EXCHANGE STUDENTS THROUGH OUT SEVERAL YEARS, AND HAD A TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE ON THEIR FAITH AND PURPOSE IN LIFE, ACTING AS A SURROGATE MOTHER AS THEY LIVED WITH YOU.
I AM SO THANKFUL FOR YOUR ENDURING, NEVER COMPLAINING ATTITUDE THAT GOD HAS ENDOWED YOU WITH.
YOUR ADOPTED SON, DENYS, HAS BENEFITED SO MUCH THROUGH THE YEARS WITH YOUR LOVE AND GUIDANCE.’
YOU WERE YOUR MOTHER’S LOVE AND BEST GIRL FRIEND ALL YOUR LIFE, BEING INSEPARABLE. YOU TOOK CARE OF HER BEAUTIFUL HAIR ALL THOSE YEARS, INFLUENCED HER SHOPPING AND HOME DECOR.
I AM GRATEFUL YOU GUIDED ME WITH MY HAIR AND WAS MY BEAUTICIAN, THE BEST. YOU EVEN GAVE POP POP A FIRST TIME SPECIAL HAIR CUT BEFORE HE WENT TO SEE HIS SISTER IN N.Y. THAT WE ALL LAUGHED ABOUT HIS SPIKED LOOK.
YOU ARE VERY LOVING AND SPECIAL, JEANNIE, AND ARE LOOKING AFTER DAD, AL, AT THIS POINT IN HIS LIFE. THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE IN HIS TIME OF NEED. GOD HAS TRULY USED YOU WITH ALL YOUR CONTACTS THROUGHOUT THE YEARS. I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH, GRANDMA GATES
FROM: VERLA GATES
MY GRATITUDE TO YOU, AL
AL, I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR YOUR BEING LAURA’S LIFE LONG, LOVING HUSBAND AND BEST FRIEND. I KNOW TO SOME EXTENT HOW MUCH YOU CARED FOR HER OVER THE YEARS WITH YOUR DEMONSTRATION, AND CARING ATTITUDE. SHE THOUGHT THE SUN ROSE AND SET WITH YOU, HER LIFE LONG MATE.
FRANK AND I WERE GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE SHAKLEE TRIPS WE GOT TO TAKE ALONG WITH YOU TWO, AND HOW YOU GAVE US THE TRIP TO GERMANY WITH YOUR STAYING BEHIND, SINCE YOU HAD JUST MOVED INTO A NEW HOME A COUPLE STREETS OVER FROM US.
SO GRATEFUL WHEN I CALLED YOU AND LAURA FROM OLIVE HILL (FRANK WAS IN MOBILE AT THE TIME), I HAD FALLEN AND BROKEN MY ARM AT A REUNION, YOU BOTH CAME AND RESCUED ME – LAURA STAYED OVERNIGHT AND TOOK CARE OF ME UNTIL FRANK GOT HOME. SUCH LOVING CARE YOU TWO HAVE GIVEN ME.
GRATEFUL YOU WERE THERE TO HELP WITH POP POP DURING OUR HARDEST LAST FEW MONTHS OF HIS LIFE, YOUR CARING AND ASSISTING HIS NEEDS.
GRATEFUL FOR THE TIMES YOU HAVE SPENT WITH ME, OUR DINNERS, AND OUR REMINISCING OF OUR LOVED ONES AND TIMES GONE BY.
AM GRATEFUL YOU LOVE THE LORD AND LOOK TO HIM FOR GUIDANCE IN YOUR LIFE AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME.
YOU ARE THERE FOR ME AND I LOVE YOU LIKE A SON, THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING! LOVE, AND PRAYERS, VERLA
FROM: VERLA GATES
ATTENTION, GRIFFEY FAMILY OF CASSIE GRIFFEY – GRATITUDE FOR HER
GRANDMOTHER CASTRIA FRANCES BOND GRIFFEY
CASSIE
GRANNY GRIFFEY YOU WERE CALLED, TO ME YOU WERE JUST GRANDMA.
I HAVE SO MANY MEMORIES OF YOU OVER MY LIFETIME THAT I KNEW YOU.
YOU ALWAYS HAD YOUR DOORS OPEN TO ANYONE IN NEED, GRANDPA’S BROTHERS STAYED WITH YOU AND FAMILY, YOUR FATHER IN LATER YEARS UNTIL HIS DEATH. AND IN 1944 YOU TOOK OUR FAMILY IN FOR NINE MONTHS AFTER THE DEATH OF MY FATHER, AMOS GREENHILL. YOU ESTABLISHED MOM THEN IN ONE OF YOUR RENTAL PROPERTIES WHERE WE LIVED OUR GROWING UP YEARS, THEN MOM MOVED IN WITH YOU TO HELP TAKE CARE OF YOU IN YOUR LATER YEARS AFTER WE ALL WERE GONE.
I REMEMBER YOUR TAKING ME WILD BLUEBERRY HUNTING, ALSO GOOSE BERRIES TO MAKE COBBLERS INTO, AND WILD GREENS. YOU WERE ALWAYS COOKING AND LOVED IT, MOST OF THE TIME THREE MEALS A DAY, SENT HOT MEALS TO THE MEN WORKING AT THE BRICK YARD FOR THEIR LUNCH.
GROWING UP YOU HAD YOUR REMEDIES HANDED DOWN TO YOU FROM THE PHARMACIST, DR. HEABERLEE THERE IN OLIVE HILL, HE PROVIDED YOU WITH MANY THINGS. APPLICATIONS OF SULFUR WE PUT ON ”FALL SORES”. YOU SMOKED IN A BUCKET OF YARN WOOL RAGS A REMEDY FOR MY BROTHER TROY’S RUSTED NAIL INJURY HE RAN INTO HIS FOOT, TO DRAW THE POISON OUT – TO PREVENT TETANUS. WHEN WE HAD THE CROUP YOU TOOK A TEASPOON OF SUGAR WITH A DROP OF COALOIL IN IT TO BREAK UP THE CROUP. YOU DIDN’T BELIEVE IN THE FREE SHOTS GIVEN AT THE SCHOOL AND I TOOK THEM ANYWAY, HOWEVER MY COUSIN GENEVA LISTENED TO YOU AND DIDN’T TAKE THEM. YOU EVEN HAD A WAY TO STOP A BURN FROM HURTING, AND CHARMED WARTS TO GO AWAY, YOU WERE GIFTED IN SO MANY WAYS.
YOU LOVED SERVING ON THE GRAND JURY, YOUR LOVE FOR PEOPLE AND YOUR FRIENDLINESS WAS YOUR TRADEMARK.
YOU COULD WALK FASTER THAN ANY OF US, WE HAD TO RUN TO KEEP UP WITH YOU
YOU WERE TRULY THE MATRIARCH OF THE GRIFFEY FAMILY.
I AM TRULY GRATEFUL FOR YOUR LIFE, YOU LEFT A LEGACY.
LOVE, YOUR GRANDAUGHTER, VERLA GREENHILL FLANNERY GATES
FROM: VERLA GATE
TRIBUTE, GRATITUDE TO MOTHER, BERTHA GRIFFEY GREENHILL
MOM, YOU TRULY HELD THE FAMILY TOGETHER WHEN DADDY PASSED AWAY, ALTHOUGH YOU WERE HURTING SO BADLY AFTER FOURTEEN SHORT YEARS OF MARRIAGE. THIS WAS 1944. GRATITUDE TO MY MOTHER, BERTHA GRIFFEY GREENHILL
YOU NEVER COMPLAINED, OUR HARDSHIPS WE ENDURED, YOUR DECISION TO MOVE FROM PORTSMOUTH, OHIO BACK TO GRIFFEY BRANCH TO BE WITH THE EXTENDED FAMILY WAS VERY HARD FOR YOU TO MAKE.
GRANDMA GRIFFEY TOOK US IN FOR NINE MONTHS ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE FAMILY THERE, WE WERE ONE BIG EXTENDED FAMILY.
YOU WORKED SO HARD TO KEEP US GOING, AND BY THE GRACE OF GOD HE GOT US THROUGH. YOU FIXED UP THE RENTAL HOUSE GRANDMA PROVIDED US WITH, I CAN REMEMBER SO MANY HARDSHIPS WE ENDURED AND GOD PROVIDED A WAY.
YOUR LOVE FOR YOUR CHILDREN PREVENTED YOUR EVER CONSIDERING REMARRYING, SAYING YOU WOULD NOT HAVE ANY ONE OVER US. YOU NEVER COMPLAINED ABOUT YOUR WORK, COOKING AT SCHOOLS, DOING HOUSEWORK, WORKING IN THE 5 AND 10 CENT STORE, THEN FINALLY GOING TO THE GARMET FACTORY AND WORKING THERE IN OLIVE HILL FOR A TIME.
AFTER WE ALL LEFT HOME AND HAD MARRIED, YOU MOVED IN WITH GRANDMA GRIFFEY TO CARE FOR HER AT THE HOMEPLACE, AND LIVED THERE IN SOLITUDE FOR NINE YEARS AFTER SHE PASSED. THEN YOU MOVED TO THE LAST PLACE IN THE APARTMENT YOU LIKED SO WELL, UNTIL YOUR HEALTH FAILED AT THE AGE OF 90. YOU WERE MOVED TO GLASGOW IN A HOME PROVIDED FOR YOUR CARE, WITH YOUR GRANDSON, DR. FLANNERY OVERSEEING YOUR CARE. YOU WERE THERE FOR 6 YEARS BEFORE THE GOOD LORD CALLED YOU HOME TO BE WITH HIM.
YOU WERE SUCH AN INSPIRATION TO ALL OF US WITH ALL YOU ENDURED ALL YOUR LIFE, YOUR LOVE FOR ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS, AND MOST OF ALL YOUR LOVE FOR GOD. I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU AND YOUR MEMORY, YOUR LEGACY YOU LEFT US.
YOUR LOVING DAUGHTER, VERLA GREENHILL FLANNERY GATES.