A Beautiful Lady and Name

Meet Mattie

Elegant

Young and stylish

Young and in love

A new mom to her firstborn daughter. 

An experienced mom of four little ones. 

Isn't she beautiful? She is my wonderful husband's grandmother, and she left her family too soon.  A few years before I met Eddie, he and his family suffered through the loss of their matriarch and leader.  She had developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  During her fight against this terrible disease, she worked hard to ensure that she would leave behind her legacy for her children and grandchildren to remember.  She hand wrote her memoirs for us.  By reading these, I feel as though I knew her too.  She was a petite little lady, but she was pretty tough.  I know that she loved to read and that her favorite book was Jane Eyre (also one of my favorites).  I know that she loved history and visiting historic sites (I am also a history lover).  I know that she had green eyes (also like me).  I know that her favorite flower was a sunflower, and much like the flower, she was a cheerful and happy person.  Her favorite color was green which is known to be the favorite color of geniuses and is also one of Evan's favorite colors.  She held education, family, and her faith in the highest regard.  After raising her four children, she went back to school to complete her Bachelor's and then Master's degrees and then became a well-known force in her local school system.  She was a wonderful example to her children and grandchildren, and many of them, including my husband, are where they are today because of her influence.  They pursued higher education and put faith and family first in their lives.  I just love this quote from her memoirs that summarized her life philosophy:

I have learned three lessons that I have built my life upon concerning education, family, and church.

Education:  Going to school and learning to read opened a door beyond my narrow world.  I came to learn that without an education, I would have been sentenced to a life of ignorance and poverty.  So I read everything I could get my hands on and nourished the obsession in my heart and mind for more education.

Family:  From my parents, I learned and felt in my heart that family are the most precious people in our lives.  Seeing them work so hard to care for and provide for our needs has indeed been an inspiration for me to do the same.  They always talked so loving of their parents and siblings.  We never heard them speak despairingly of anyone or fuss and argue with anyone in any way.  We felt that our kin and family were very special.  Their support through all endeavors enabled us to succeed.

Church:  Knowing God in my heart and having the influence of the church’s teachings in my life has been my main and lasting stay.  From my first contact with the church, God gave me a desire to be faithful in attendance and to do all I could to carry out its message of salvation and the ministry of Christ.

I just hate that I never got to meet this woman, but I hope that she is watching us from heaven and is very proud of her great-grandchildren who she never got to meet.  She now has 13, and our little miss will be number 14.  I had decided years ago that if we ever had a daughter, and if no one else in the family chose the name, we would honor this lady by using her name.  So little miss's name will be Mattie.  Her great-grandmother was very big on family names.  She was named after both of her grandmothers, and she named all of her children family names.  Some of them were a little unusual, I admit, but she was an unusual and exceptional lady.

Grandma Mattie,

We hope that you are very happy as you watch your grandchildren play and grow and as we strive to continue your legacy.  We hope our little Mattie will see the example you set for her and will follow in your footsteps and keep her faith, family, and education as the top priorities in her life.  I know it is a different world these days than when you were growing up, and we hope we can instill in her the foundations that will enable her to make wise decisions in her life.  Thank you for leaving behind a wonderful legacy for your family!  

Love,