Month: July 2011

My grandma Paula closed her eyes and gave her final breathe on June 5th. She was 72, just a few months shy of her 73rd birthday. I wish there was more to her obituary, but it was short and to the point. I think my mom just didn’t want to deal with her moms death at the time and just left it short. Maybe that’s best…

Even though her last few years weren’t the best years of her life, she actually lived a very full life. Paula Hazen was born August 11, 1938 in Elmira N.Y. and one of the funny things I found out is that when she was a young girl she ran away from home 3 times and the local newspaper did a story about her and her running away from home and that the police station loved her (I’m paraphrasing a bit). So funny! Not sure when, but her family moved to San Diego. Paula was married to T. David Sommers at the age of 16 and had two daughters a few years later, Rene and Lorri. My mom says she was a daddy’s girl and that my grandfather was a loving and devoted husband, successful businessman and loved to fish. My grandfather died quite unexpectedly one day when he went out to sea to go fishing…he never returned. The lifeguards did massive searches and came up with nothing. His lose devastated the whole family. A few years later my grandma met Wade Carter and remarried. That was also around the time my mother was married to my father, Terry Iverson. My brother was already born at this time and was the absolute apple to my grandmas eye. David, my brother, would beg to differ, but we all know it’s true. While my grandma was married to Wade, they traveled, went on cruises, took their motor home to the dunes in Yuma, AZ and they also had a small plane that they would take to the Colorado River where they had a small vacation home or back to Missouri where his family lived. My mom also took my grandma with her to Holland when she had a work project and one trip I will always cherish the girl trip my mom, grandma, me and my grandmas friend took in Kauai. We had an amazing time! Growing up I remember her being the glue to the family. She almost always hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, birthday parties, graduation parties. All the family would come and she would whip up the most amazing meal you had ever seen. She was an amazing cook, baker and loved to sew. She was also fantastic at gambling. She didn’t go often, but when she did she always seemed to have a lucky hand. I shouldn’t leave out her bad habits…she was a smoker and drinker which lead to many health problems down the road. Okay, back to the story. My grandmas marriage to Wade ended when I was around 19 years old. Wade had many bad habits of his own and made some poor choices those last few years…I’ll leave it at that. After my grandma was divorced she continued to live in Yuma, AZ and is where she started dating and eventually marrying Richard Davis. He mended her broken heart and made it whole again. The love they shared was pure and special. He loved and supported her through the good and bad time, through sickness and health…and till death he did part about 3 years ago. Sigh. The last 3 years had been rough on her and even though my mom asked her on several occasions to move in, she declined. She wanted her space and life as is. During this time she battled with pneumonia several times leaving her in the hospital for weeks. She also had a horrible car accident where she damaged her arm so badly they had to do surgery and add metal plates. My mom and I drove to Phoenix to be by her side and because we thought this could be the end. Nope! She is one tough cookie. She completely re-cooperated. She also had other health issue, but refused to quite drinking or smoking leaving the doctors not much to work with. Her veins were too weak. Still…she kept going. It wasn’t until this last June right before she passed away that she told my mom that she was ready to come live with them. That night she had a glass of wine and closed her eyes for the last time and took her last breathe. She was finally at peace and ready to rest.

Thank you grandma for all the laughs, tears and hugs. In my eyes, you are an amazing woman even though you drove my crazy at times. I will always love, admire and respect you and I pray I see you in heaven one day.