Great-Grandma McAlister

I've always loved this picture of my Great-Grandma McAlister. She just looks like such a neat lady, and from what I've heard, she really was a neat lady. Grandma Mac, as she's referred to, died a year before I was born.

Verlene June (Shoden) McAlister

She's my Grandma Joanne's mom and my Dad's grandma. Each weekend up until at least late elementary school (I'm kinda guessing on the time) my Dad spent his weekends at her home. My grandparents packed up my dad, uncle Brad, and aunt Susan and drove over to Austin, MN each and every Friday and spent two nights with Grandpa and Grandma Mac. Whenever my Dad or aunt and uncle speak about that time of their lives, they seem to have nothing but fond memories.

This is my favorite memory that my dad tells: My dad was the middle child, and for some reason, every Saturday morning at his grandma Mac's house, he was the first one up. I think he liked being up first because he could choose his favorite cartoons to watch. He tried to tip-toe around the house to the TV room, being as quiet as he could so no one would hear him and wake up. But sure enough, a few minutes after he'd settled down to watch cartoons, he could hear his Grandma making him toast in the kitchen. I picture her lying in bed as a big smile spreads over her face when she hears my Dad trying so hard to be quiet. Being the loving Grandma that she was, she couldn't resist making breakfast for little Rick.

I hear that my Grandma was kind and loving, with a quiet-gentle heart. She didn't have anything bad to say and didn't complain. My mom didn't get to know her for too long, as she died a few years into my parents marriage, but even she has all nice things to say about Grandma Mac. It was a sad sad day when she died, too young, in her 60s.

I can tell that my Grandma Joanne still misses her Mom a lot. Sometimes she'll tear up and talk about how much her mother would have loved all of her great-grandchildren, and now even Audrey, that she never got to meet.

I'm not sure why it is, but I've always felt that we'd be close. Like if I had gotten to meet her and spend time with her, that we'd get along and have a lot in common. I feel like I'd love to be around her. I wish I could have met her.

Whenever I've been asked who I'd like to see in heaven, besides God of course, I say, "Grandma Mac". I'm not totally sure how heaven will be, but I really hope that I will get to meet her and that she will be this kindred spirit that I feel she is to me.

Despite wishing I could still have my Grandma Mac, I am anything from lacking in the Grandma department. I have grown up with the two most wonderful Grandmas a person could ever have: Grandma Mary and Grandma Joanne. They are the perfect pictures of a Grandma: loving, selfless, caring, giving, hospitable, generous, fun, goofy, and the list goes on. They're the backbones of our families, keeping us all together by opening their homes to us and making us feel welcome :) I love you both! And how lucky am I that my Grandmas are able to be a big part of my daughter's life as well :) Also, now my very own mother is starting a new generation of Grandmother-ness and she, of course, is fabulous. Hmm...I'm getting excited to be a grandma now, haha, ok I'll wait for a while.

Joanne Inez (McAlister) Hemmer

Mary Ilene (Thomas) Erickson

Thank God for Grandmas here and in heaven.