My Grandma Bev!

This past week my Grandma Bev passed away.  It was sort of unexpected but also the thought of her end coming was always in the back of our minds.  My Grandma suffered from Parkinson's disease and eventually the disease took her.  I will truly miss my Grandma and I am so thankful for the wonderful woman she was, I will always admire her hard work and her get things done attitude.  She is a woman I look up to and I am so thankful for her influence and example in my life.

Laurence and Beverly Livingston

My Grandma was born in July of 1936.  She was the oldest of four children, herself, a brother four years younger, a sister about six years younger and another sister about ten years younger.  My Grandma pretty much grew up across the road from her future husband, my Grandpa Laurence.  My Grandpa was apart of the airforce and when my Grandparents got married they lived their first years in California.  From there they moved to Vancouver Island where my Grandma had her first three children, all boys one right after the other!  My dad being the youngest of those three boys!  My Grandma was busy, but a great mom who cooked, cleaned and even found time to make the boys clothes!  Four years after my dad was born Grandma had another boy!  And then only a year later, a much anticipated baby girl!  By this time the family moved back to Alberta, eventually settling in Coaldale where my Grandpa opened an auto body Shop, "Double L Auto Body"!

Glen (my Dad), Kirk, Mark
Brett, Grandma Bev and Pamela

Glen, Kirk, Mark, Pamela and Brett

This is where I remember spending a lot of my early childhood!  I remember Grandma and Grandpa living on a little acreage on the very edge of town.  My Grandma had two horses, Casey and Finnighan.  This is where my love of horses blossomed, I remember Grandma saddling up the horses and leading us around the little corral.  My Grandma also had pheasants, although they were totally wild it was neat to peek at them through the wire!  On the acreage there were also cats and dogs!  My favourite cat of all time was a stray that showed up one day, he was a beautiful smokey grey colour.  I'm not sure how his name came to be but it was very fitting, his name was Grey-Grey!  My favourite dog was their collie dog, Butchie!  I'm not sure where his name came from either but I remember him being the most gentle and cuddly dog, I even remember when he died and how we helped Grandma and Grandpa bury him in the backyard, we also hung his collar and dog tags from a steak marking his grave.  In the shop my Grandpa had his own dog, one who was not as friendly but made a lasting impression!  I remember Grandpa picking Arren and I up from school in his old pick up with Buster sitting right next to him on the seat!  On our way back to the acreage we would always stop at Mac's and get a slurpee, the best thing was getting one for Buster too!  It was his favourite snack!  If we ever went out to Grandma and Grandpa's with dad and stopped at the store first we always had to get Buster a slurpee.  

After Grandpa passed away Grandma took a few trips!  A couple of bus trips, one to the east coast and then another down to Arizona.  My dad also took my Grandma to the Republic of Dominica where my Uncle Mark lived for several years.  An experience of a life time, and she said it was so gratifying to actually see that he lived a civilized life and not just in the wild jungle!  I remember taking trips with Grandma to Great Falls and Kallispell as a kid and how much fun we had with her!  

I remember Grandma painting and repainting her kitchen many many times!  I also remember her building her front and back deck and painting it every year too.  She would also repaint the outside of her house every few years, always changing the colour!  When my Grandpa passed away in 1999 my Grandma decided to sell the shop and the acreage and move into Lethbridge.  She became a different lady, much more feminine!  She would still paint and repaint her house, but her bathroom was decorated with flowers and bright colours!  She still always had a kitty, ones that were not always so nice, even to her!  Once Grandma moved into the city she would often take walks down into the coulees, or over to her most loved coffee spot Tim Horton's!  Once Emry was born we would often go and visit Great Grandma Bev, and once I started working at Weight Watchers with Myrna Emry would spend the three hours with Great Grandma.  They too would often go for walks or play in her yard!  I loved those visits and I really feel like Emry got to experience a little bit of what I did as a child with my Grandma.  Eventually Calum even got in on the one on one time with Great Grandma.

Emry and Great Grandma Bev

Emry, Grandma and Gilbert

Grandma's funeral was beautiful and very suiting to the type of woman she was.  My Uncle Mark, the oldest, gave a tribute to Grandma and talked about the super mom she was!  He said that as teenagers their house was always the hot spot, everyone wanted to come for Grandma's home cooked meals or super yummy cookies!  He said she never missed a hockey game the boys played, she even worked outside of the home and still managed to make the games and get the boys to their 5am practices.  She made most of the kids clothes, and always had homemade food on the table!  She was even known to take buckets of cookies out to the kids and all their friends when they were playing street hockey just outside their front door! 

Emry and I sang the song we sang at church for Mother's Day.  And it was so fitting, we sang "Mother, Do You Love Me?"  I couldn't look around the room while we did it because I could hear all the sniffles and knew it would get me if I looked up! 

After the service everyone headed over to Moxie's for dinner, the service was private for family and close friends and being that it was small it was decided that an informal dinner after would be nice to catch up with everyone and reminisce about Grandma.  It was a beautiful end to a beautiful life!

I will miss my Grandma so much but I am so thankful for the love and support she gave me throughout my life.  I am thankful for the example she was to me, for the determination she instilled within me.  I love her so much and will forever cherish the memories I have of my beautiful Grandma!