I love this photograph of my Grandma Hoggan. I don’t know how old she was when the photo was taken, but doesn’t she look like a movie star?
She passed away a couple of weeks ago at the ripe ol’ age of 93. (She was actually a couple weeks shy of that birthday, but she had such a tough year I’m giving it to her anyway.)
I attended her funeral last Friday and it was touching to listen to her 6 children laugh and cry at their memories of her. Here are a few things I will always remember about her:
1. She was feisty. And she was always right. I can remember sitting on her couch listening to she and my grandpa debating trivial facts of a story grandpa was telling. I can still hear her voice saying, “Now Bruce…” as she helped him remember the event correctly.
I think it’s because of these qualities that I share with her that my husband will refer to me from time to time as “Cleo.” I always take it as a compliment.
2. She loved to read. She would stay up late at night devouring books. And the next morning (not too early) she would read the newspaper as she ate breakfast.
While she spent her “prime” years raising her 6 children and working, she decided after she retired to get a college degree in history. At the time, 1987, she was the oldest person to graduate from UCSD.
3. She loved to travel and didn’t mind taking off BY HERSELF if my grandpa couldn’t tag along. In my grandpa’s later years he had quite a bit of anxiety about leaving their home. So…if he didn’t want to leave…that was O.K. with her. She didn’t mind exploring on her own.
4. She was funny. As a child, I don’t remember her being particularly funny. But in the last two years I’ve realized that she had quite a sense of humor. When I would visit her in the assisted living facility, she would constantly crack jokes about people who lived there, things that went on, aliments she had, etc.
She wasn’t too concerned about who heard her either. A couple of weeks before she died my dad and I borrowed a few photographs from her room to scan. We told her we’d bring them back the next day, but I don’t think she heard us. As we were leaving, she turned to the nurse, shrugged her shoulders and said, “I guess they’re taking all my stuff now.” I still laugh about that.
5. She loved Pepsi and See’s candy. I’ll always remember her when I see those things. She kept boxes of See’s in her apartment, but told me she could only eat them if she was under 100 lbs. I told her that actually when you are over 90 you can eat as much as you want. New rule!
Before her funeral services, all the family gathered in a room and toasted her life with cups of Pepsi and a piece of See’s candy. I loved that…and I know she did too!
I loved that lady and will miss her dearly. It’s amazing how a photograph can tell a story, elicit memories, make you laugh, make you cry. Photographs document your lives. As I looked through the displays of old photographs that were set up at her funeral, I realized that if I could take one thing, just one, it would be the photos. Hands down. My grandma had all the things we fill our homes and our lives with: furniture, jewelry, Lladro statues, books, etc.
But all I cared about were the photographs. It’s hard to put a price tag on memories.
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