My Sweet Grandma

passed away last week and we attended her funeral yesterday. I have so many good memories of going to visit Grandma's house in Idaho and playing with my cousins, walking her dog, eating her excellent cooking (my favorite being raisin-filled cookies) and just spending time together with family. She was an excellent example to me and will be very missed. Funerals are bittersweet because it's so sad to have the person gone, but nice to share so many stories and reflect on their life. It was good to see so much family we haven't got to see in a while. Following is her obituary which I wanted to save for my journal.

Irene Beal Hawkes 1926 ~ 2008 Irene Beal Hawkes, 81, passed away April 25, 2008 in her home in Centerville, Utah following a frustrating battle with cancer.She was born July 24, 1926 in Moore, Idaho, the youngest child of Elva Johnson and Erin Thorpe Beal. She grew up in the Lost River Valley and graduated from Arco High School in 1944. She attended BYU for three years, taught high school English for two years, and then returned to BYU where she obtained a degree in Education in 1950. Following a few more years of teaching at various elementary schools in Idaho, she married Mertin William Hawkes on June 16, 1954 in the Idaho Falls Temple. They immediately moved into the home Mert built (and Irene painted) in Blackfoot, Idaho where they raised their family of six children. Irene was a hard-working housewife who prepared three meals a day, baked bread every week, always had a full cookie jar, dipped chocolates at Christmastime, and bottled or froze everything her husband grew in the garden. She loved to decorate for the holidays, talk to her sister (and later her daughters) on the telephone and paint --whether it be crafts, fences, shirts, cabinets or walls. She enjoyed writing humorous stories and letters to the editor, serving in various "behind-the-scenes" church callings, and traveling all over collecting mugs from everywhere. Her husband Mertin preceded her in death in 1991, but Irene carried on taking care of her beautiful yard and traveling with her sister-in-law, Afton. She reluctantly left her little yellow home of 44 years in 1998 and moved to Centerville, Utah where she made many new friends in the Centerville 6th Ward. Most of all, Irene was a wonderful mother. She is survived by her children Christie Chambers (David), Dennis (Carla), Leigh Ann Davis (Mike), Kelly Page (Kevin), Roger (Jeannette); and Claudine Simonsen (Ray); her sister, Roma Moses; 21 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Two grandsons preceded her in death. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, May 2, 2008 at Russon Brothers Mortuary, 295 North Main, Bountiful, Utah. Prior to the funeral a viewing will be held from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. Interment: Grove City Cemetery in Blackfoot, Idaho at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon.