On May the 14th my beloved great-grandmother, "Gran-Nanny", passed away at 11:00 p.m. at 75 years of age. She was very special to me and I will forever miss her. She struggled in the hospital for a month with an unexplainable sickness that was diagnosed two days before her death as vicious blood cancer (leukemia, more than likely.) My sister came from Houston to stay with her in the hospital because no one was able to stay 24 hours due to their jobs. (I and my mother could not because I was sick with a cold and Mama was still recovering from the miscarriage.) She arrived and we ate supper. My father had been there to see her earlier that day and told us that she was not responsive and slept the whole time. She did not seem to know that anyone was there but she could hear everything if you talked to her. He told us, through tears, that she may not make it through the night. He said that it was up to us...we could either go see her that night, or wait until the next morning. All three of us girls felt that we needed to go Thursday night. We got there about 9:00. Several of our other family members were there. They soon left the room and we were alone with her. We talked to her for a long time...just catching her up on everything that was going on with us and that we loved her SO much. We read Scripture to her and sang hymns to her. She stirred every time we sang or talked to her...we know that she heard us. We finally said goodbye and said we would be back the next morning. But, the Lord was pleased (and we believe our visit put her at peace), for her to leave this world just minutes after we left her room. Her son Ricky was there as she took her last breathes...that slowed down shortly after we left. Occurring at first once every two minutes...and then every five...and then she took her last. Her funeral was yesterday and it was a beautiful service. I was asked to write and read something about her from the grandchildren's point of view. Below is what I wrote...and some pictures of her throughout her life. <3>
"Martha Sue McGinnis Brunson…Martha, Martha Sue, Mom, Nanny, Gran-Nanny. She was a loving mother, a doting grandmother, a spoiling great-grandmother, and a best friend.
There are so many small memories that I’m sure we all have of her, and so many more small memories that she had of us.
She had the same few stories that she told over and over again about people, places, and times that she loved.
I can still see her so vividly sitting at her table at the Bakery – munching on ice, waiting for her breakfast, and always ready to talk. Of course she had to pause often during her conversations to greet the person coming in the door. She would start with a simple, “Hello–how are you?” Then she proceeded to ask about their children, their family, their extended family…she knew more people than I thought possible! She always had a story to go with each one, too. I suppose when you work in the catalog department at Sears as long as she did, you meet lots of people, and in her case…remember every one of them!
I can also clearly see her smiling happily in the background of a family gathering – especially if gift-giving was involved. She always thought she had to get the newest, latest, and greatest thing that we wanted. You had to be careful about mentioning things that may be useful to you or something you always wanted but never bought, around her. More than likely it would end up in a bright shiny bag from her come Christmas or your birthday. She always thought that if she got us the perfect gift it would make us happy. Little did she know that it was her smile, her laugh, her love for us that made us happy. How happy I would be to hear her laugh again .........................................................................
Now, I haven’t heard a whole lot about how she treated Paw-Paw and Uncle Rickey when they were young (like little angels, I’m sure!) But I do know that my Daddy was her baby. In her eyes, little Ryan hung the moon. Anything to make him happy was never too much for her to do.
Then several years later she had two more little grandsons, Eric and Colby, to start doting on all over again. Soon after, a beautiful young woman came into her oldest son’s life and brought, yet again, two more little boys, Kenneth and Michael, along with her. Then in the early 90’s she had a new little person whose finger she could be wrapped around…her first great-granddaughter – Holly. Then 5 years later along came ME! Now if she doted on Daddy…she flat out spoiled me! She loved me so much…she loved all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren so dearly…I don’t think we will EVER know just how much she really thought of us.
And even though Lyric, Tanner, and Lucas are so little right now and probably will have very few if any memories of Gran-Nanny; she was just as crazy about them too!
We will be able to tell them as they grow older how much their great-grandmother loved them. Just as we can tell our future children about her and her beautiful memory.
I am so thankful that I was able to have my great-grandmother until I was almost 14. How many people have that blessing!? Not many, I’m sure. The Lord is SO good! I am grateful to my Lord and Savior everyday that I was blessed to have the honor of being the great-granddaughter of such an amazing woman like Martha Sue McGinnis Brunson – my Gran-Nanny. May her memory and her life live on through us for many generations to come."
(Make sure to pause the music playing on the right side of my blog...this video has music on it.)
"Martha Sue McGinnis Brunson…Martha, Martha Sue, Mom, Nanny, Gran-Nanny. She was a loving mother, a doting grandmother, a spoiling great-grandmother, and a best friend.
There are so many small memories that I’m sure we all have of her, and so many more small memories that she had of us.
She had the same few stories that she told over and over again about people, places, and times that she loved.
I can still see her so vividly sitting at her table at the Bakery – munching on ice, waiting for her breakfast, and always ready to talk. Of course she had to pause often during her conversations to greet the person coming in the door. She would start with a simple, “Hello–how are you?” Then she proceeded to ask about their children, their family, their extended family…she knew more people than I thought possible! She always had a story to go with each one, too. I suppose when you work in the catalog department at Sears as long as she did, you meet lots of people, and in her case…remember every one of them!
I can also clearly see her smiling happily in the background of a family gathering – especially if gift-giving was involved. She always thought she had to get the newest, latest, and greatest thing that we wanted. You had to be careful about mentioning things that may be useful to you or something you always wanted but never bought, around her. More than likely it would end up in a bright shiny bag from her come Christmas or your birthday. She always thought that if she got us the perfect gift it would make us happy. Little did she know that it was her smile, her laugh, her love for us that made us happy. How happy I would be to hear her laugh again ............................................................
Now, I haven’t heard a whole lot about how she treated Paw-Paw and Uncle Rickey when they were young (like little angels, I’m sure!) But I do know that my Daddy was her baby. In her eyes, little Ryan hung the moon. Anything to make him happy was never too much for her to do.
Then several years later she had two more little grandsons, Eric and Colby, to start doting on all over again. Soon after, a beautiful young woman came into her oldest son’s life and brought, yet again, two more little boys, Kenneth and Michael, along with her. Then in the early 90’s she had a new little person whose finger she could be wrapped around…her first great-granddaughter – Holly. Then 5 years later along came ME! Now if she doted on Daddy…she flat out spoiled me! She loved me so much…she loved all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren so dearly…I don’t think we will EVER know just how much she really thought of us.
And even though Lyric, Tanner, and Lucas are so little right now and probably will have very few if any memories of Gran-Nanny; she was just as crazy about them too!
We will be able to tell them as they grow older how much their great-grandmother loved them. Just as we can tell our future children about her and her beautiful memory.
I am so thankful that I was able to have my great-grandmother until I was almost 14. How many people have that blessing!? Not many, I’m sure. The Lord is SO good! I am grateful to my Lord and Savior everyday that I was blessed to have the honor of being the great-granddaughter of such an amazing woman like Martha Sue McGinnis Brunson – my Gran-Nanny. May her memory and her life live on through us for many generations to come."
This is the slideshow I made for her funeral.
(Make sure to pause the music playing on the right side of my blog...this video has music on it.)
